In November, I got insurance, I thought, for my grandchildren, a 6-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy. Within the 2 hours that I was on the phone, they took 6 payments out of my bank account. The one-time fee was $25 each, $93 each for medical insurance, and $7.95 each for dental. I was told the insurance would go into effect Dec 1.
I made a doctor's appointment for the boy for Dec 12 and was told he needed an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. The nurse called and told me the insurance only paid for 4 office visits a year per child, $50, and nothing for "procedures." We scheduled the procedure for Dec 22 so that he would not have to miss school, since he has had perfect attendance for 3 years.
I had the insurance cards, both dental and medical, along with a payment schedule starting in January that would be month by month. Then I started getting calls and letters saying I had neglected to pay the boy's insurance premium. His was the first I had taken out. They told me the bank had declined it. Now, is it logical that they would decline the first and then continue with 5 consecutive payments? That does not seem possible to me. It made me overdrawn at the bank, and I have been trying to play catch up ever since.
Trying to reason with them over the phone was like trying to nail jello to a tree. So, while I had insurance that month, I made appointments with the dentist for both of them, soon after Christmas. We would get his procedure out of the way on Dec 22, then see the dentist on the 27th for both of them. When I got home from the hospital late in the evening (his procedure was supposed to be at 3PM, and they did not take him back until 6PM), there was a message on my machine from the dentist's office saying they had talked to Assurant, and that Assurant said neither child had insurance, so they were canceling the appointments! I spoke to two different people, Melanie and Tyberious. Both promised me they would look into the matter and try to recoup medical fees, etc. I believed them.
After 2 or 3 weeks of promises of corporate 3-way calls to resolve the issues, I finally got through to Tyberious, after I had faxed him my payments, ID cards, and bank statements. He acted like he was unaware of what was going on, after he had been "understanding" just a few weeks earlier. He put me in touch with a claims officer, who offered a refund of $7.95 for the dental. I was livid! They owe me much more than that.
I have a heart condition and high blood pressure, I am 65 years old, and I am raising my grandchildren. I am trying to help them and do the right thing. We make $70 too much to get Medicaid. Needless to say, I canceled this "insurance" as of Jan 1. I just have to trust God to keep the children healthy. It is sad that there is nothing in place to help children who fall through the cracks as far as health care.
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