In the past few weeks, I have found myself being very focused on health insurance. It isn’t just because I write about it every day. It also has to do with the fact that I am in the process of (hopefully) being approved for a health insurance policy. My experience today showed me that health insurance is on everyone’s mind, not just mine.
Recently, I applied for what I believe could be an affordable health insurance policy. The insurer has sent me an email that acknowledges that they received my application. I have yet to hear whether or not I have been approved, or denied, though. I did not receive an email from them today, so I decided to wait and see if they sent me something in the mail.
The mail arrived, but it did not contain anything from my (potential) health insurance company. My paycheck arrived, so my husband and I got in the car and drove to the bank. We also needed to pick up a few grocery items. This meant that we ended up at a bank that is located inside a grocery store.
We passed by the cash registers, and the customer service desk. Two women standing by the desk were having a rather loud conversation. They weren’t yelling, or angry. I think they were just trying to be heard over all the noise from the check out area. One of the women told her friend:
“… and then, they told me that I didn’t have health insurance! I was like, what do you mean, I don’t have health insurance? I pay $7.00 for it out of every paycheck! Where is that going, if I don’t have health insurance?…”
I couldn’t help but wonder if this problem happened to her at her doctor’s office, or if this was something the pharmacy told her as she tried to pick up a prescription. I think nearly everyone has had this frustrating experience, at least once or twice.
The woman, and her friend, were speaking with an employee of the grocery store, and they all seemed to know each other. Perhaps all three of them work for the grocery store. If so, then this could be a problem that all of them were having with their employer sponsored health insurance.
At the registers, there were little signs to let people know that the pharmacy at this grocery store accepts Medicare Parts B & D. This was right next to some information that let people know that Medicare will cover the immunizations that a person gets at this pharmacy.
It also pointed out that this pharmacy is connected with Express Scripts. In other words, it is considered to be “in-network” for people whose health insurance policies are connected with Express Scripts. Recently, Walgreens ended its connection with Express Scripts. The result was that a lot of people had to find a new pharmacy, other than Walgreens, to get their prescription medication from, if they wanted their health insurance plan to cover the cost of any of it.
Image by Eric Whittman on Flickr