Important! Open your Junk Mail until August 1

14 years ago

Seriously -- If you've got lousy health insurance, open your 'Junk Mail' carefully until August 1st.

Because of provisions in the Affordable Care Act, health insurance companies that paid less than 80% of their premium revenue out in the form of claims were required to refund consumers for the difference by August 1, 2012.

Hubby's stuck with health insurance we know is crappy because he has pre-existing conditions. So we fully expected to get a refund check due to this requirement. We didn't expect the check to be so BIG! (Which correlates directly to just how crappy a policy he has, but anyway...)

But one more indicator of how slimy this company actually is, is that instead of simply crediting our account for the required rebates, they opted to spend more money and mail out checks.

Why do I call that tactic slimy?

Because they stuffed those checks inside JUNK MAIL envelopes! An envelope with advertising on the outside and absolutely NO HINT that there was something important or legally required on the inside. The envelope did not even have the health insurance company's name on it! The kind of envelope you normally toss without ever opening...

How many of those checks do you suppose will now go uncashed? Simply because people did not even open the envelope they came in. And if those folks did not know to expect their check and do not have the determination to follow up enough to make sure they actually get it?...

SLIME BALLS!

Hence my message -- If you have lousy health insurance, KNOW to expect a rebate, and be on the watch for it. If they have to issue a rebate, that's one indication that the company that "insures your health" (yeah, right) may just be slimy enough to try this kind of tactic.

They have to get you your rebate by August 1st -- so watch carefully and follow up. And open your junk mail.

(If your insurance is employer-provided, odds are it's not that crappy, and to the extent that the company pays for the insurance, the credit, if there is one, goes to them. But if you pay and the insurance company falls into that

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Comments (5)

emagineer
14 years ago
I had read about the 80%, but didn't have enough info. With your post, I ran a search. The link below allows you to look at your insurance carrier and if they are within the 80%. At the bottom of the page is a search for the info. You want to check MLR. Also has info on price increases for next year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Insurance INfo
liriodendron
14 years ago
Here's some more info about who may be getting a check, and why. Hope you're included!

We're not, alas. But I guess that means our insurance has been doing its job all along.

But in many states, (not NY, where I live) there have been almost no controls on insurance companies, so that's why others are getting money back.

May I point out that this is a part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare? The insurance companies were waiting to hear if the Supreme Court ruled that the PPACA was constitutional, but now they have to get busy and send refund checks in cases where they weren't meeting the new standards that require insurance companies to actually spend most of the premiums on medical care, not advertising, bonuses and bloated executive salaries. What a novel concept!

Sending the checks in junk mail is a really creative way to keep the money.

L.

Here is a link that might be useful: Are you getting a refund? What you need to know.
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sweeby
Original Author
14 years ago
Great links Emagineer & Liriodendron! Thanks for chiming in.

Liriodendron's article is especially informative, as are the links embedded in it.

The check for Hubby's insurance was over $900 -- so we're talking enough money to make it worth your while to investigate. My insurance is not so bad, so my rebate may be nowhere near that big...
gsciencechick
14 years ago
My employer plan is a self-insured plan, and these are not affected by the rule. They are also "grandfathered in" on providing many of the services they are supposed to be providing by now such as women's annual preventive GYN exams and coverage for adults' pre-existing condtions.

I cannot tell you how much I hate this plan, but DH's is even worse!
neetsiepie
14 years ago
Legally, if you are owed money that is not claimed, it must be turned over to the State after a certain period of time. So these rebates, if never claimed (cashed) can eventually work their way to you-but you have to do some research first.

All states have an unclaimed property department. I'm not entirely sure how it works, I think you check with the state(s) you have lived in to see if the state is holding money for you. The Department I work for has an unclaimed property division and it's got almost a billion dollars in unclaimed assets on deposit! That money is held forever, by the way. So if you think you may have missed the refund, or if you just are curious to check to see if you're owed any money (forgotten bank accounts, refund checks, utility deposits, stock dividends, etc) you might just be surprised.

Here is a link that might be useful: unclaimed property search