My attempt to find out what my health insurance actually covers came to a stand still. The booklet mentioned something about “preventative care” being covered. However, it never described exactly what the insurer considered to be “preventative care”. A call to my insurer was enlightening.
I almost feel sorry for the phone representative that ended up getting me when I called my health insurer for information today. I don’t think they get many callers who are as informed about health insurance as I am. There is an advantage to writing about insurance topics every day for over a year.
The phone rep was able to answer the first issue I called about. The insurer sent out health insurance cards, (and dental insurance cards), in my husband’s name, only. The phone rep explained that the cards are in the name of the policyholder. This means there will be no cards with my name on them. It also means I have to tell my doctor that I am a dependent on the policy when I hand her my insurance card.
From here, things got ugly. I opened the booklet the insurer sent to me, and read them the part that said that the plan covered preventative care from participating providers. Then, I asked the rep what, exactly, does the insurer consider to be preventative care?
First, she said that there was information on the website about that. I had already tried to find that, so I knew that wasn’t accurate. I asked her to show me where on the website. She tried to find it, and then put me on hold so she could continue to look for it. It simply wasn’t there.
Eventually, I asked her to mail me a list that says everything that is considered to be covered under “preventative care”. I was told they couldn’t do that, because there was no list. When I kept pushing, the rep eventually found a list. However, she explained that they might not actually cover things that are on the list.
For example, I was told that if I got a mammogram that it would be covered under “preventative care”. Unless, of course, the mammogram indicated that I had cancer. Then, it would no longer be considered “preventative care”, and I would be expected to pay for it. This answer disturbs me.
Next, I asked if birth control was covered under “preventative care”. For some reason, the rep was stuck on the idea that I specifically meant the IUD. I had to repeat that I meant all forms of birth control that the FDA has approved. I told the rep about the law that was passed in August of 2011, that requires all health insurance companies to cover the cost of birth control.
She had to put me on hold to find out what to say to that. When she returned, she informed me that Anthem doesn’t consider birth control to be “preventative care”. Long story short, my questioning lead to the result that Anthem has no plans to ever cover the cost of birth control. I do not wish to pay money to an insurance company that will not cover the things I need health insurance for.
Image by brains the head on Flickr