I’ve been buried in paperwork lately. Paperwork that I’m doing for the first time in my life. Let me back up. A year and a half ago, I was happily employed at a great company, with the best coworkers you could ask for and some killer perks…. But it’s only now that I’m realizing the best perk was health care. My Cobra clock just ran out and I’ve been kicked off the cushy group plan attached to my former company. Time to shop for individual health care. I decided to just investigate a couple of carriers to make things as easy as possible. I’ll never attach the word “easy” to health care again. It started with about 10 days of back and forth questions with the sales rep assigned to my case. And for every question I got answered, another 5 surfaced. After that, I began the 15-page questionnaire. A few pages in, I started to panic. The insurance carrier wanted to know just about everything. Should I tell them that I sprained my finger in 6th grade? Will they think I’m accident-prone? Do they need to know that I tried smoking once, but thankfully, wasn’t cool enough to pull it off? Or that I toyed with the idea of jumping out of an airplane? What I thought of as adventurous is now deemed reckless. I finally finished the application and sent it in—with a very large check. I was told that if I just paid the premium, it would help speed the application process along. So why does it feel like a bribe? Anyway, after that I foolishly thought I was done. Nope. Then I got a call from the carrier’s medical expert who proceeded to probe even further into my background. He wanted to know the exact dates I’d seen doctors and why. So I had the pleasure of calling my docs to gather that info. Now the process is complete and I’m waiting to hear. I put all my eggs in one insurance basket (how many checks can I write?) so if I get denied I’ll have to scramble to find a new taker. Wish me luck. I’ll be the one crossing the streets in a helmet until I get good news.
