(no subject)

I've been having some fun with my new insurance company (the one I've been using for the last year and a half or so). Every time I submit a claim for certain diabetic supplies, they hold the claim and ask me to send them a copy of my Medicare EOB for the charges. Because, obviously, if I'm diabetic, I must be eligible for Medicare. Never mind that a quick glance at my birthdate (in my member profile and on all submitted claims) will show that I'm under 30. (For those unfamiliar with Medicare, it's a US gov't program for people over 65.)

The first couple of times this happened, I wrote or called in and, eventually, they corrected it.

After that, I started writing notes in large letters on the bottom of the claim forms that I have no other medical insurance and am decades away from being eligible for Medicare. This might have worked once or twice, but it still happened other times.

Last week, it happened again. I wrote in (on Friday, I believe). This time, it was an angry letter. (I can't remember the last time I wrote an angry letter, if I ever have. Angry MB posts, yes, during the flame wars and stuff. Polite letters of complaint, sure. But an angry letter... I honestly can't recall.) You could tell it was an angry letter because:

It started off with a sentence to the effect of "I've been nice about this before, but I'm starting to get frustrated."

It included a couple of sentences in all CAPS explaining, once again, that I am not eligible for Medicare. (Introduced with a statement that I was getting tired of having to repeat that information.

Towards the end, I referred to this annoying error as a "stupid mistake." (Note the usage of the word "stupid." It is insulting and perhaps provocative.)

Today, one business day after writing this angry letter, I received a reply. The representative:

Updated my file (again) to show (again) that I (still) don't have other medical insurance.

Sent the claim on to be processed (hopefully) properly.

"Flagged" my file so that, from now on, my claims will only be processed by "certain Claim Processors." (Presumably the competent ones, or at least the ones who have not been specifically instructed to be incompetent so that the company keeps more money for longer periods.)

Put a specific notation into my file to tell processors not to hold up my claims waiting for (nonexistent) Medicare EOBs.

Only then (after explaining everything that had been done to fix the problem and hopefully prevent it from ever recurring) apologized.

I'm impressed. I'm happy. If it works, I'll be even happier.

The one thing I'm afraid of is that these special notations in my file an special claims processors might make it harder for me to fight future errors. ("I'm sorry, but this clearly shows that your claim was processed by one of the competent people. This can't be a mistake.") But... we'll see. Hopefully the competent people will avoid making stupid mistakes (such as looking for Medicare benefits or, the other favorite, trying to treat my policy as if it was an HMO and they had a right to review every new prescription before agreeing to pay for it). We shall see.

For now... Ah, the power of... angry letters!!