by Tricia
I noticed online today that my health insurance provider received the manual check that I wrote to them. I sent it Wednesday – they cashed it Friday. Whew. We are now officially covered and I can begin the claims process to get paid for things we paid out-of-pocket. I’m not looking forward to it, but at least it will be a learning experience.
I also found out that the original online bill payment that my bank sent did make it to Blue Cross and it was cashed on the 12th. I really goofed with how I handled everything, because now that check will bounce on them since we put a stop on it. That could result in a fee. I tried asking the customer service rep about it and he didn’t know. I guess we’ll see.
What I should have done was let that first check go for a while longer and then cut a check from my checkbook. I got really flustered, though, during this whole thing and didn’t think too clearly. I also seem to forget that I have a savings account I can pull from. You live…you learn.
With all of the information that I have, I believe my bank did its job and sent out the payment as they should have. I believe that the delay with everything lies with Blue Cross and I will confirm that when I call next week to find out when they cashed the second bill pay check from my bank. I believe that they are a company that is not equipped to handle online bill payments. Even though all of the necessary account information is included on the check, they delay the payment processing unless you have the voucher from your bill with the payment.
Now that this is somewhat resolved, I can dig into our finances and see if we can squeeze out some money to our savings account. I still would like to get that balance increased to $4,000.
Tricia: From personal experience, my suggestion would be to have the health insurance drawn from your savings account via auto pay. One slip up and you could find yourself uninsured; it is not worth it. I love auto pay for our health insurance and remember the years that I had to make last minute runs to the post office. We’re with Anthem Blue Cross by necessity. Once you have prior conditions you are stuck with your insurance, so choose carefully.
Susan thats a good idea. but i won’t recommend that. last moment you have to run here or there. its ok if you have saved a lot and its been debited to the savings. but still to be on safer side its better to keep it on manual pay. one more thing is that you dont have to worry about the balance in the bank. you can directly go to the insurance company and pay cash…
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I have Blue Cross Blue Shield, and I pay through their website. They send me reminders, and everything is paperless, but I still initiate the payment when I want to. It’s worked great.
Its easy for me to get flustered whenever I have something like that happen, too… but then I think about this story, and it helps – maybe it’ll help you, too:
My dad was a college professor for a while, and had several students who would do everything perfectly, then, when the final exam came along, they’d just fall apart. As my dad began looking at what was causing this, he realized that the ones who never made mistakes would get stuck, and because they hand’t made any mistakes up to that point, they didn’t know where to go from there. The ones who had ventured out and made some mistakes along the way knew more of what didn’t work, and were able to push through.
I think life is like that a lot of times. Now you know more about the manual vs. auto pay, how the bank works, how Blue Cross works, etc. Next time this rolls around, you’ll have had the experience, and you’ll know what to do…
🙂
Maybe I am one of the few left that have employer provided health insurance. When I get paid my insurance payment is taken pre-tax from my check, so I don’t even have to think about it. Automatic payment is great but you always have to manually check up on it that things have worked out. My paycheck is direct deposited but I still make sure to get my electronic pay stub from time to time to make sure everything is in order. Technology is an aide to our day to day, but we have to keep tabs on things too.
I just hope that it doesn’t affect you any further once it’s resolved- ie, credit score, their refusal to renew, etc.
I saw that if you took $1250 from your savings and applied it to your debt, you will have reached the milestone of having paid 30K of debt off. I know you want to build the savings, but still, it’s a nice milestone that you aren’t too far from.
Know too, that online billpay through your bank probably results in a paper check being cut and mailed through the postal service. So, instead of you writing and mailing a check, your bank is doing that. That’s what my bank does, and why I almost always pay on websites instead of using the billpay for my bank — especially if I ever need something done on or by a specific date. If I do use the billpay with my bank, I always initiate it at least one week in advance.
I hope that you are okay. Haven’t heard from you since you posted…It’s been a few days.
danielle – you keep trying to tempt me, don’t you 🙂
MollysBrother – I’m okay. Just been having a rough past couple of days. I’m writing an update right now. I appreciate you checking in on me 🙂
Health insurance can be such a pain in the rear. We moved away from New England a few months ago and made a payment with our HSA for my wife’s last checkup there. We even called to make SURE they would process the payment before the last day that the HSA was viable (my last day of work).
Well, sure enough, they DIDN’T process the payment and they sent us a bill for the full amount because it was declined. I called to tell them that it was their own fault, and the woman agreed, apologized, and said that she would take care of it. Now we are once again getting bills saying that we owe them for the visit, when they were the ones in error AND they acknowledged it and said we were in the clear. It’s rare that I see this much complete incompetence in one organization, but they sure do take the lead in that respect!
Thanks for letting me vent!
Jerry