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amezriI'm resolving to write more in my LJ about things. Life things, fannish things, anything. So, let's start with health insurance.
I've been on my mother's COBRA plan for about a year, since they extended the age to 29. Of course, I turned 29 earlier this montha nd I was confused about whether or not my coverage would be continuing until. Didn't think to much about it, really... until my bill came for the next month and I see they've raised the premium to $600. A month. $600. This is for basic medical coverage - exams, simple labs, some hospital coverage, a crazy high co-pay ($25 per office visit), no dental, and no vision.
Having seen that, I start immediately looking at other health insurance options. I don't qualify for Medicaid because I live with my mom and they take into account the total income of the people you are living with, which puts me out of the Medicaid bracket. Then I checked out HealthyNY again and it seems like they've managed to make their premium costs. That, or I'm just so jaded from the $500/month I have been forking over. I wasn't able to apply for HealthNY before because I hadn't worked in so long, but with my recent paycheck from working on a film project, I'd be able to say I had some kind of income.
Called CDPHP to find out about applying for HealthyNY through them and a nice lady told me that my coverage would be ending at the end of the month under the Age 29 extension. No worries, I'd be canceling it anyway. I also got confirmation of the updated premium, which would be $285 instead of $254. That's a much smaller increase than my current plan and also still less than half the current premium cost. The rep then transfered me to another department where I made an appointment to come into the office at noon. Done! Now to cancel my current Young Adult coverage, which, if anyone else needs to know, does actually continue through your 29th year, so it expires the day you turn 30. Of course, I am not looking to fork over $600/month for the next 12 months.
Calling to find out about my cancellation, I called the NYS Civil Service Department, which is supposed to be handling my eligibility. Well, after wading through a ton of automated menus, I was on hold for 15 minutes. Hung up. That was perfectly pointless.
Next, I called Empire and was able to wade through to an actual person. They've listed me as having two health insurance programs - one where I am a dependent and the other where I'm an individual enrollee. In both cases, I can't make any changes. My mother would have to contact them and deal with it. I still can't get an exact answer to when the Age 29 thing expires because the rep at Empire didn't seem to have any clue and just said that there was a different expiration date on file for my policy, but she also couldn't tell me any details about it.
So... now it was time to get to my appointment with CDPHP. I got there at noon and waited in the lobby for 15 minutes before I met with the enrollment person... whose name I've forgotten. Anyway, once I was in the office, she was very nice and helped my finalize my application and seemed to think my application would be approved. All I needed was the cancellation letter from my current insurance saying i was in good standing and had no pre-existing conditions. Fab. In and out in under 10 minutes.
I took a detour to the mall after that and did some "Good Job, Me" spending, which is always bad. Bought a 4-pack of True Blood and colored hair clip-ins from Hot Topic (they had me at 15% discount and bonus $5 off). Also snagged a Kat Von D Memento Mori palette that was on sale at Sephora for $24, which is $10 off their normal price. Interestingly, the JC Penny Sephora was having quite a sale while the actual Sephora store in the mall didn't seem to be having one. Weird. Anyway, also got a couple Color Club (Wild Orchid & Red Velvet [China Glaze Lubu Heels dupe]) polishes and one of the new OPI Swiss collection (Ski Teal We Drop).
Once I was home, I tried calling my current provider again. I was on the phone for - no lie - 40 minutes waiting for someone to pick up. The office closes at 3:00pm and it was already past that time, but I stayed on the phone. Finally someone picked up and all he told me to do was fax a letter to them stating that I was canceling my Young Adult coverage. Seriously. After 40 minutes, I get told that? I quickly wrote up the letter and faxed it over, so I hope that will take care of that and I will be on a comparatively more affordable crap insurance plan. If so, I'm thinking maybe I should get tested for hypoglycemia finally. (Though that's scary because the test for that includes not eating for 48-72 hours which is... not good for me.)
Speaking of... I need something to eat. All I've eaten since I woke up was a fruit bar.
I've been on my mother's COBRA plan for about a year, since they extended the age to 29. Of course, I turned 29 earlier this montha nd I was confused about whether or not my coverage would be continuing until. Didn't think to much about it, really... until my bill came for the next month and I see they've raised the premium to $600. A month. $600. This is for basic medical coverage - exams, simple labs, some hospital coverage, a crazy high co-pay ($25 per office visit), no dental, and no vision.
Having seen that, I start immediately looking at other health insurance options. I don't qualify for Medicaid because I live with my mom and they take into account the total income of the people you are living with, which puts me out of the Medicaid bracket. Then I checked out HealthyNY again and it seems like they've managed to make their premium costs. That, or I'm just so jaded from the $500/month I have been forking over. I wasn't able to apply for HealthNY before because I hadn't worked in so long, but with my recent paycheck from working on a film project, I'd be able to say I had some kind of income.
Called CDPHP to find out about applying for HealthyNY through them and a nice lady told me that my coverage would be ending at the end of the month under the Age 29 extension. No worries, I'd be canceling it anyway. I also got confirmation of the updated premium, which would be $285 instead of $254. That's a much smaller increase than my current plan and also still less than half the current premium cost. The rep then transfered me to another department where I made an appointment to come into the office at noon. Done! Now to cancel my current Young Adult coverage, which, if anyone else needs to know, does actually continue through your 29th year, so it expires the day you turn 30. Of course, I am not looking to fork over $600/month for the next 12 months.
Calling to find out about my cancellation, I called the NYS Civil Service Department, which is supposed to be handling my eligibility. Well, after wading through a ton of automated menus, I was on hold for 15 minutes. Hung up. That was perfectly pointless.
Next, I called Empire and was able to wade through to an actual person. They've listed me as having two health insurance programs - one where I am a dependent and the other where I'm an individual enrollee. In both cases, I can't make any changes. My mother would have to contact them and deal with it. I still can't get an exact answer to when the Age 29 thing expires because the rep at Empire didn't seem to have any clue and just said that there was a different expiration date on file for my policy, but she also couldn't tell me any details about it.
So... now it was time to get to my appointment with CDPHP. I got there at noon and waited in the lobby for 15 minutes before I met with the enrollment person... whose name I've forgotten. Anyway, once I was in the office, she was very nice and helped my finalize my application and seemed to think my application would be approved. All I needed was the cancellation letter from my current insurance saying i was in good standing and had no pre-existing conditions. Fab. In and out in under 10 minutes.
I took a detour to the mall after that and did some "Good Job, Me" spending, which is always bad. Bought a 4-pack of True Blood and colored hair clip-ins from Hot Topic (they had me at 15% discount and bonus $5 off). Also snagged a Kat Von D Memento Mori palette that was on sale at Sephora for $24, which is $10 off their normal price. Interestingly, the JC Penny Sephora was having quite a sale while the actual Sephora store in the mall didn't seem to be having one. Weird. Anyway, also got a couple Color Club (Wild Orchid & Red Velvet [China Glaze Lubu Heels dupe]) polishes and one of the new OPI Swiss collection (Ski Teal We Drop).
Once I was home, I tried calling my current provider again. I was on the phone for - no lie - 40 minutes waiting for someone to pick up. The office closes at 3:00pm and it was already past that time, but I stayed on the phone. Finally someone picked up and all he told me to do was fax a letter to them stating that I was canceling my Young Adult coverage. Seriously. After 40 minutes, I get told that? I quickly wrote up the letter and faxed it over, so I hope that will take care of that and I will be on a comparatively more affordable crap insurance plan. If so, I'm thinking maybe I should get tested for hypoglycemia finally. (Though that's scary because the test for that includes not eating for 48-72 hours which is... not good for me.)
Speaking of... I need something to eat. All I've eaten since I woke up was a fruit bar.
