Bose: good service. United Health: irritating.

[drscott]

My Bose mobile on-ear headphones with microphone for iPhone calling work well, but last week the music suddenly became one-channel (or less.) Traced it to a spot in the cable near the microphone. Called them today and they said since it's in warranty (8 months into a one-year term) they'll send out a new cable, though it may be a few weeks since it's back-ordered. Good job, and the rep actually was, um, a native English speaker, which made it much less frustrating.

On the other hand, United Health robocalled today asking for Paul. I told the machine I was not him. It then told me to take the message he should call another number to "update his information." So I called that (we impersonate each other all the time!) and keyed and spoke reassurances that no, his partner was not covered by another policy, an annual ritual. Sigh.

Comments

[excessor.livejournal.com]

The insurance thing is just odd. There's never a request to do this via paperwork, so I don't understand the whole “We now need to call someone” as a way of getting this done, rather than just checking a box, online or on the registration paperwork. I understand why they do this (to avoid coordination of benefits issues with an erstwhile second company), but here we are halfway through May. I selected our options in November. sigh.

[sfkev.livejournal.com]

Is this done for anyone with a spouse/partner or just domestic partners? Just curious, cuz I have never heard of this "checking" before.

[omero-hassan.livejournal.com]

Someone at United Healthcare is trying to hit on you, that's my theory.

[fyellin.livejournal.com]

One of the advantages of a gay couple is the ability to impersonate each other to clueless customer reps. "Yes, my name is Mark." "My mother's maiden name? Of course." "My birthday and SSN, no problem."

[omero-hassan.livejournal.com]

My impression is that UNM dropped United Healthcare because there were so many complaints.

I recently got a letter from my new insurance asking to "talk to me" about my recent visit to the doctor about my ankle. It doesn't say what they want to know, and it doesn't say what will happen if I don't call. I can't tell if I'm going to call or not.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I hear you! United Healthcare managed to bill my Mom's most recent claim, for a modified barium swallow study, to my subscriber number. The claim clearly has her name on it; I've never used my insurance at the hospital where the test was performed and I was in Seattle when it took place. It's taken three calls and it hasn't been resolved. I still don't know how they got my subscriber number.

[ozdachs.livejournal.com]

They cannot be worse than Blue Cross PPO... Blue Cross simply denied a claim asserting that I was covered by another policy. I had to phone them, find out why the claim was denied, and then assure them that I was not double-dipping. Then they agreed to put the claim in for payment in 60 days. Arrgh!


I listed to House Republican leader John Boehner piously oppose President Obama's health care ideas by saying that medical decisions should not involve "big government" but should only be between a person and their doctor.


If ONLY those were the entities involved NOW!


The !@#$% private insurance companies are now between the patient and doctor. Their motives are not pure and their effect on health delivery is not good.


But, I digress... and hijack your post! Sorry.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

Health care is a huge mess at least in part because it is so regulated and has so many players. One point that's rarely mentioned is that in the 60s idealists worked for health care cooperatives which would give good care and cut out the middlemen of insurance companies, hospitals, and doctor's corporations -- thus the birth of HMOs, the non-profit exemplars being Harvard Community Healthplan in Boston and Kaiser in California. Having been covered by both, I can say they did a decent job though you got more effective care only by being proactive with them. Then it became politically expedient to demonize HMOs as people discovered they did not necessarily get gold-plated service or exactly what they wanted. But nonprofit HMOs already cut out most of the horrid money-grubbing profitmakers, so why doesn't the left support them? This NEW mechanism will be so much better! We promise. After all, government initiatives always come in at lower costs with better service, because they've taken away the profit motive!

As you can see, I am cynical. I think if Federal health plans could be affordable, then Congress should first show it knows what it's doing by improving care in Medicare while cutting costs. Any new effort will have the same problems as Medicare and bankrupt us all even faster, unless some *real* change happens -- like breaking the doctor's monopoly on low-end care, ending the requirement for prescriptions for most medications, ending the state prohibitions on out-of-state or out-of-country insurance and services, etc.

[ozdachs.livejournal.com]

Then it became politically expedient to demonize HMOs as people discovered they did not necessarily get gold-plated service or exactly what they wanted.

It wasn't political correctness which got me to criticize Kaiser. It was repeated second-hard personal experience which included a misdiagnosis of my mother's cancer which probably cut some months from her life.

The model might have been good, but by 1990 its execution was already spotty with a lack of quality. I suspect the model had some holes in it which became significant as Kaiser grew. I don't think these issues have been addressed.

I like most of your ideas for "real change", but not the relaxing on insurance companies. I want effective oversight before we allow more potential, more remote slimeballs to escape regulation.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

Well, here's the problem: oversight won't help. I don't know about your mother's situation, but no amount of certification and regulation can substitute for competence, familiarity, and caring. One of the bad things about the medical system we have is the way it passivizes the patient; when you had a physician who knew you and took care of you for years, you could almost let go and assume you'd be well taken care of, but with personnel rotating in and out, caregivers are cogs in a system. In such a system only the patient can know enough to track the details and ask for second opinions. Since most patients are trained to passively accept what they are told, this means important clues get lost and continuity of care is missing. Nothing about the current plans for healthcare reform really touches the problem; but perhaps the e-record initiative will help. And there is silence on the mixed record of the Massachusetts effort to date, which greatly reduced the number of uninsured but is costing more than the state can afford, in only its second year.