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Fun with Aetna
My health insurance plan is ridiculously expensive. (And I realize I'm far from alone in that.) Looking at the published rates, I realized that I could save about $1k/year if I stayed with my current plan but raised the deductible. A small note in the NJ state insurance FAQs leads me to believe that doing so (if I got an official qualified High Deductible Health Plan) would greatly improve my prescription coverage, as well. (Doing so would also qualify me for a tax-deductible Health Savings Account, which may or may not be a good thing.)
So I decided to call Aetna and see what I could do. First called in early December. Open Enrollment is usually in November, with changes taking effect at the beginning of the year. I was a little worried that it was too late. The representative said that the annual rate change letter should have been sent out that week, and should be arriving shortly... and that I should call back when I had it. (Even though, in my experience, the information contained therein is generally no different than the published info available from the state website.)
I waited. No letter came.
Called last night, hoping that it wasn't too close to the end of the year. But it was late by the time I got around to doing so. I finally got through to a representative, who told me that I needed to speak to someone in another department and that I should hold on while the call was transferred. Was on hold for several minutes before the rep got back to me and said that the people in the other department had left for the day at 5pm (it was 5:02 by then).
Today, I called the direct number I'd been given, but it gave me the same exact prompts as the main number. And I was once again told that I'd have to speak to someone at another department. Got through, but that person couldn't help me, either. Transferred me over to someone else...
You get the picture. I've now got a collection of 5 toll-free numbers and have spent at least an hour on hold. The little information I've been given ("there are no higher deductible plans available," "you can't make changes to your plan until June," "the rate change letter wasn't sent out because we're not changing our rates this year...") has pretty much all been false. And no one has been able to help me directly. They all have to put me on hold to talk to someone else and I'm not allowed to call the other people directly. I have to go through the call center. The last person I spoke to (after being transferred yet again) gave me more false information and then said that she was just filling in; the people who could actually help me were all out to lunch (no comment). Supposedly, once they get back from lunch (45 mins from when we spoke... which would be now-ish), they'll be there until 9pm. (But I'm sure the people they have to talk to will be gone by 5pm, by which they mean 4:30ish.)
One of them did say that she would have a packet mailed out with enrollment options and information, but had no idea if it would arrive in time, or even what "in time" was. And, of course, no access to the actual information which will supposedly be in the packet.
This is an even bigger run-around than I usually get from the claims department. I didn't expect to get it from the sales department. (Though I wonder if I'd be getting the same thing if I was looking to move my plan in the other direction...) I don't think I had nearly this much trouble last time I changed my plan, but that was a year or two ago.
I tried emailing customer service. We'll see what happens. And I'll give the call center another crack shortly, though I don't expect much at this point. Yay for Florida vacation, huh? But I want to get things settled before the deadline. Whatever the deadline is.
So I decided to call Aetna and see what I could do. First called in early December. Open Enrollment is usually in November, with changes taking effect at the beginning of the year. I was a little worried that it was too late. The representative said that the annual rate change letter should have been sent out that week, and should be arriving shortly... and that I should call back when I had it. (Even though, in my experience, the information contained therein is generally no different than the published info available from the state website.)
I waited. No letter came.
Called last night, hoping that it wasn't too close to the end of the year. But it was late by the time I got around to doing so. I finally got through to a representative, who told me that I needed to speak to someone in another department and that I should hold on while the call was transferred. Was on hold for several minutes before the rep got back to me and said that the people in the other department had left for the day at 5pm (it was 5:02 by then).
Today, I called the direct number I'd been given, but it gave me the same exact prompts as the main number. And I was once again told that I'd have to speak to someone at another department. Got through, but that person couldn't help me, either. Transferred me over to someone else...
You get the picture. I've now got a collection of 5 toll-free numbers and have spent at least an hour on hold. The little information I've been given ("there are no higher deductible plans available," "you can't make changes to your plan until June," "the rate change letter wasn't sent out because we're not changing our rates this year...") has pretty much all been false. And no one has been able to help me directly. They all have to put me on hold to talk to someone else and I'm not allowed to call the other people directly. I have to go through the call center. The last person I spoke to (after being transferred yet again) gave me more false information and then said that she was just filling in; the people who could actually help me were all out to lunch (no comment). Supposedly, once they get back from lunch (45 mins from when we spoke... which would be now-ish), they'll be there until 9pm. (But I'm sure the people they have to talk to will be gone by 5pm, by which they mean 4:30ish.)
One of them did say that she would have a packet mailed out with enrollment options and information, but had no idea if it would arrive in time, or even what "in time" was. And, of course, no access to the actual information which will supposedly be in the packet.
This is an even bigger run-around than I usually get from the claims department. I didn't expect to get it from the sales department. (Though I wonder if I'd be getting the same thing if I was looking to move my plan in the other direction...) I don't think I had nearly this much trouble last time I changed my plan, but that was a year or two ago.
I tried emailing customer service. We'll see what happens. And I'll give the call center another crack shortly, though I don't expect much at this point. Yay for Florida vacation, huh? But I want to get things settled before the deadline. Whatever the deadline is.
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