United Healthcare
Former Employer, Unorganized Company, Poorly Managed, Issues with COBRA

I am a former employee of United Healthcare, located in Maryland Heights, MO. And I am also insured / was insured by United Healthcare. I was let go from United Healthcare on 12/17 because of the $450 million dollars worth of lawsuits they have against them right now, they had to let a lot of us go. Anyway as federal law states United Healthcare has 30 days to furnish me with options to continue my healthcare coverage, also known as COBRA. United Healthcare did send out all of the COBRA information to me within the 30 days. However, they failed to send me the application so I could elect to continue my coverage.in the midst of this, I was having a frightening medical issue. After going to the emergency room and then following up with a specialist, they have determined what is causing the issues that I am having is a growth inside my body, after reviewing all of my symptoms, they believe this is cancerous. And should be removed immediately. I scheduled a surgery to have the growth removed a week after my follow-up appointment.

The next day (1/13/09) after my follow up with the specialist, I contacted United Healthcare HR to request the COBRA elect form. The representative I spoke with told me she could send it via, USPS, fax, or e-mail. I requested this form to be e-mailed to me, in hopes this would be the quickest way so I could have my surgery without any issues. The representative advised me that it would take 1-3 business days in order for me to receive the form. 1-3 business days!!! To send 2 pieces of paper to me. Patiently, I waited way passed the 3rd business day. I tried to call on Monday 1/19, no success, they were closed for the holiday. I also receive a phone call one 1/19 from the hospital advising me, they are canceling my surgery because United Helathcare is not showing me as active on any policy. On, 1/20/09 the day my surgery was supposed to take place, I called United Healthcare HR again to inquire about the form I requested. The representative stated that the form was mailed to me and not emailed to me and this time I would have to wait 7-10 business days. I advised the representative that I do not have to time to wait 7-10 business days, I had an imperative surgery scheduled for today, which was canceled because of the time it was taking United Healthcare to get me the information I needed. I then asked her if there were any way she could fax it to me that same day so I could get the form back out along with payment. The representative advised me she would have it faxed to me by the end of business that day, which end of business for them is 7pm CST. I waited until about 6:45pm that same day, again called United Healthcare to check the status on my request. Another representative advised me that there was nothing in the system showing that I requested it to be sent to me via fax, nor was anyone going to send it out to me that day. At this time, I was getting very frustrated, and stated to the representative that I wanted the COBRA elect form faxed to me (re-verified my fax number) and I want it no later than the following day. The representative again assured me that I would have the form the next day. Wednesday the 21st comes along, I waited all day. Still no form. Again, I called United Healthcare, same story, only this time I was told that it was against HIPAA regulations to send the form via fax or e-mail, it has to be sent by mail. I advised the representative that statement was false, because there is no private information on the form, it is a blank form in which I fill out and as long as I authorize them to do so, I am waiving my HIPAA rights. I am livid at this point, finally asked to speak with a supervisor. I spoke with a supervisor advised the supervisor of the whole situation and I was not getting off of the phone with her until the COBRA form was coming through my fax. The supervisor faxed the form to me at the time we were on the phone. It took me 8 days to receive 2 pieces of paper!!! I would also like to add, when the representative told me that they mailed the form to me via USPS, I just receieved the form in the mail yesterday 2/2... Which granted they were in their time frame of the 7-10 business days, but it still took 9 business days, and the mail even runs on the weekends. I do not understand this.

I receive the form the afternoon of Wednesday 1/21, I filled out the forms and wrote out 2 checks to cover me for the month of January and the month of February, a total of $805.20. I put everything they needed into the envelope along with payment and took it to the post office on Thursday the 22nd. I didn't mail it out on Wednesday, because I needed to ensure that all monies were in the right account to cover the checks I wrote. I went to the post office on Thursday and instead of sending it through regular mail, I spent $17.50 to send it Express Mail to them so they would receive it the next business day by 12pm.

I have called United Healthcare every day since January 23rd to see if my coverage has been reinstated. Every time I call it is the same story, "we're not showing coverage for you at this time." Numerous representatives have asked me where I sent it. Advised them I sent it to the P.O. Box in Louisville, KY that was labeled on the COBRA form. One representative actually told me that all payments are processed in Cincinati, OH. And that it is going to take another 3-5 business days for it to get from Kentucky to Ohio. Why in the world would they put one address on the form, when they know damn good and well it needs to go to another. I should have known this already, seeing that I worked for the company. And was forced to lie for them all the time, especially about the Ingenix situation...

United Healthcare is holding up my whole life right now. I am unable to work because of my condition right now. My surgery was canceled because they have dropped the ball so many times. My symptoms and situation have worsened since the initial appointment with the specialist. I can barely move, never sleep, cannot really eat, I pretty much am turning into a waste of space because of them. The growth is growing in size and if this is cancerous, it could be spreading to where ever cancer spreads to. And no one will perform the surgery until United Healthcare states, "I have active health coverage." The only other option I have is to pay for the procedure out of pocket and have United Healthcare reimburse me, but I do not have that kind of money nor do I really trust I would ever get a reimbursement if I did have the money to pay out.

Finally, on 2/3 I was informed everything had been taken care of. That's great an all, but it should have been taken care of a long time ago.

On top of all of this... United Healthcare is a horrible employer! The health insurance sucks! It doesn't cost hardly anything to the employee, but you get what you pay for. The salary was decent, they pay more than a lot of other health insurance companies, but you pay for it in the end with all of the endless "flexibility" and ever increasing productivity while, simultaneously, promoting the idea that employees should tolerate ambiguity and not expect any security...

If you consider a job there, I would think really hard about it...

They cannot do anything right and they are not fair to anyone they do business with!!! Which I'm sure you all know!

Company: United Healthcare
Country: USA
State: Minnesota
City: Minnetonka
Address: 13655 Riverport Drive, Maryland Heights, Missouri
Phone: 3145927000

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