Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Why We Refinanced, Part I
by Ken Houghton
After dancing around the FMLA, I instead departed from the ranks of those full-time employed at an Investment Bank. Which means we are covering this through COBRA.
Since the departure was in mid-April, the paperwork from The Old Firm didn't arrive until near the end of last month. And since it was clear from their documentation that nothing absolutely needed to be done until the end of this month, I waited until the return from vacation to mail the formal notice out, hoping that the newly-formed business would be in place with its own checks by the end of the month.
This appears to have thrown a major spanner into the U.S. health care system.
Yesterday's second call from the hospital prompted me to the call my provider, and be assured that everything was fine. (Their representative, without my using the word said, "You went COBRA, right." I confirmed this, and she assured me that everything was approved and would be fine.)
There were three or four calls today, with both the hospital and the doctor. Apparently, the provider has not been so upbeat with the hospital, threatening that my opting for COBRA meant that, if the check hasn't cleared already, they may not cover it.
Upshot: barring a last-minute sanity check from The Old Firm (whose administrator had gone home before 4:30 today), and/or acceptance of my copies of the mailed forms, we're giving the hospital a $2,000 deposit tomorrow, and have committed a somewhat larger sum to the surgeon in the event that COBRA turns out to be something that businesses can treat as a free option not to allow employees to continue coverage.
This in addition to paying almost $2,000 a month in COBRA to The Old Firm. Which I guess makes us really "gold-plated." And a lot of others will follow me, just as Roy headlined (h/t Tom).
Between this and the insurance cf Tom described, is there any wonder that the voters believe that providing affordable health care independent of their employment situation is a key issue? Or that it's the centerpiece of John Edwards's War on Poverty/Two Americas campaign?
As I said before, several transitions, not the least of which being that Shira is going in for back surgery around 7:00 a.m. tomorrow.
After dancing around the FMLA, I instead departed from the ranks of those full-time employed at an Investment Bank. Which means we are covering this through COBRA.
Since the departure was in mid-April, the paperwork from The Old Firm didn't arrive until near the end of last month. And since it was clear from their documentation that nothing absolutely needed to be done until the end of this month, I waited until the return from vacation to mail the formal notice out, hoping that the newly-formed business would be in place with its own checks by the end of the month.
This appears to have thrown a major spanner into the U.S. health care system.
Yesterday's second call from the hospital prompted me to the call my provider, and be assured that everything was fine. (Their representative, without my using the word said, "You went COBRA, right." I confirmed this, and she assured me that everything was approved and would be fine.)
There were three or four calls today, with both the hospital and the doctor. Apparently, the provider has not been so upbeat with the hospital, threatening that my opting for COBRA meant that, if the check hasn't cleared already, they may not cover it.
Upshot: barring a last-minute sanity check from The Old Firm (whose administrator had gone home before 4:30 today), and/or acceptance of my copies of the mailed forms, we're giving the hospital a $2,000 deposit tomorrow, and have committed a somewhat larger sum to the surgeon in the event that COBRA turns out to be something that businesses can treat as a free option not to allow employees to continue coverage.
This in addition to paying almost $2,000 a month in COBRA to The Old Firm. Which I guess makes us really "gold-plated." And a lot of others will follow me, just as Roy headlined (h/t Tom).
Between this and the insurance cf Tom described, is there any wonder that the voters believe that providing affordable health care independent of their employment situation is a key issue? Or that it's the centerpiece of John Edwards's War on Poverty/Two Americas campaign?
Labels: Economics, Health Care, John Edwards, just life, refinance, The Old Firm
Comments:
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... is there any wonder that the voters believe that providing affordable health care independent of their employment situation is a key issue?
None at all. That's why stories like this -- about how Europeans die on filthy hospital cots because of socialism, which we should be glad we don't have -- are decreasingly effective at scaring the citizens out of demanding health care reform.
The threat of a reanimated Stalin is less frightening than the very reasonable fear of losing one's job and getting sick.
Good luck to you guys.
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None at all. That's why stories like this -- about how Europeans die on filthy hospital cots because of socialism, which we should be glad we don't have -- are decreasingly effective at scaring the citizens out of demanding health care reform.
The threat of a reanimated Stalin is less frightening than the very reasonable fear of losing one's job and getting sick.
Good luck to you guys.
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