Insurance Issues

The major portion of the day yesterday was spent trying to get clarification of the health insurance I have with AARP Medicare Complete through United Health Care. When I signed in at the doctor's office I presented my insurance card and Medicare card as I always do. The receptionist indicated that my insurance was not going to cover the visit as expected because the doctor was not the Primary Care Physician on the insurance. I can tell you that I thoroughly researched this insurance and have used it several times, in different locations throughout the U.S. without any problems.

Following several phone calls back and forth between the insurance company, the doctor's office and myself, it was determined that the insurance does cover the visit. Of course, by this time I missed the appointment and had to reschedule for next week. My insurance has what is called a "Passport" option that provides for coverage nationwide with just an out of network copay. The receptionist didn't see this on the card, so she told me I would have to pay the full amount without coverage. Sheesh! Insurance has gotten so complicated with all the changes in the laws that it is becoming impossible to evaluate and decide what is best. It was near 5 PM before the issues were resolved and the appointment is now rescheduled for Tuesday.

I have another appointment today at the dealership where I purchased my truck in 2008. I hope that there are no issues for that appointment. It should be straight forward as there are no warranty issues and it is for normal service. I hope to get a chance to talk to somebody though about my experience with the radiator that failed in Wyoming after only 26,000 miles and Ford did not cover it because the "time" warranty had expired. You may recall that go-around where I argued that a radiator should not fail at 26,000 miles, regardless of how old the vehicle was. It is for that reason that I would never buy, or recommend, another Ford product to anybody. That was a $1600 repair that I ate and Ford should have covered. It really upsets me that they wouldn't stand behind a $50K+ vehicle for a failed radiator within so few miles. Ford was the only auto maker of the top three that didn't accept government bailout money a couple years ago. It seems that they have sacrificed customer service in order to save that money.

I didn't mean for this to turn out to be a negative post, but there are times when it seems like the world has stopped caring about doing the right thing for people so that they can grab more money from us...