Bob CollinsIf you needed another example of why our private health insurance system is broken, you needed to look no further yesterday than Isaiah Breen’s tweet thread about a guy who fell into the bureaucratic black hole of the insurance industry and tried to get some common sense to prevail.
i, apparently, owed $79 on my january bill. i didn't know that, because i hadn't looked at my bill until a couple days ago when i went to pay my february bill.
on my receipt there was a note from @_HealthPartners/@HPCentralMN that my plan had been cancelled on feb 12. 2 days ago
— isaiah breen (friends call me isi) (@isaiah_kb) February 14, 2019
no phone calls, no letters, no emails.
the reps from @_HealthPartners/@HPCentralMN said it wasn't their responsibility to tell me. "they didn't have to."
they told me they used to reinstate plans in circumstances like this, but "stopped doing so when w realized nobody else did"
— isaiah breen (friends call me isi) (@isaiah_kb) February 14, 2019
so rather than $90 in copays, i owe $1400 for trips to my psychiatrist, my gp, and my physical therapist.
everyone on the phone at @_HealthPartners/@HPCentralMN really couldn't care less.
i missed a payment. of $79. so my plan is cancelled.
— isaiah breen (friends call me isi) (@isaiah_kb) February 14, 2019
It was pretty obvious what was going to happen. The social media pressure on the insurance company would mount and surely common sense would prevail.
In today’s update, yes, common sense prevailed. But what about the people who don’t have the power to marshall the forces of common sense?
i got a call from the same person who told me no earlier in the day. “after further review we’re going to reinstate your plan”
to be clear, at least 4 @_HealthPartners staff, including her, told me it was literally impossible for them to do that.
weird. wonder what changed.
— isaiah breen (friends call me isi) (@isaiah_kb) February 15, 2019
3. the nurses and a secretary at my primary care clinic and behavioral health clinic who promised to raise hell on my behalf.
4. the reporters who reached out to the @_HealthPartners comms team to ask what the fuck. @stribrooks, @libbycwatson, and @mikemullen_.
— isaiah breen (friends call me isi) (@isaiah_kb) February 15, 2019
i also want to acknowledge how lucky i am to come from a background and family and class that allowed me to a. make noise myself, b. know people who could help me make noise, and c. use the noise properly.
this isn’t the norm. this is the exception.
— isaiah breen (friends call me isi) (@isaiah_kb) February 15, 2019
my story is the kind of story a well connected, media savvy middle class guy can tell.
imagine what it’s like for poor people and old people and people of color and people without advocates and people without money and people without power.
that’s health insurance in america.
— isaiah breen (friends call me isi) (@isaiah_kb) February 15, 2019
people don’t want insurance. THIS IS WHAT INSURANCE IS.
the bureaucracy. the complexity. the 8 departments. the supervisors. the powerlessness. the ability for someone to arbitrarily damage your life for no reason. maybe they were just having a bad day.
— isaiah breen (friends call me isi) (@isaiah_kb) February 15, 2019
and of course if you ever find yourself in this situation yourself, dm me. i’ll always do what i can.
we have to look out for each other. we’re powerless alone.
but there’s more of us than there are of them. and together we are stronger than they are.
— isaiah breen (friends call me isi) (@isaiah_kb) February 15, 2019
