Sweating the small stuff
Yesterday I wrote on social media: "The OptumRx site was updated with my new plan (something done right... fainting), but Duane Reade called to say I was inactive, when trying to fill the ear drop prescription. It worked after I gave them the info. Yay. Copay of $10 on $41.99 drug. Now let's see if this has any effect (sitting here with cotton in ears, after keeping head tilted)."
Silly me, I spoke too soon. While the OptumRx site was fine over the weekend, I just checked and it had my old member number and old plan info (and no sign of the ear drops). This happened if I linked through the United (UHC) site or logged on directly. I called OptumRx and they said there was a weird error where the start date on my new plan was 1/1/14 but the end date was 12/31/13. Since it can't end before it starts, the system reverted to the old info (who knows, maybe this happened to Duane Reade... but they were able to put through the claim after I gave them my new info). OptumRx said the dates came from UHC and had to be changed by UHC.
Called UHC, and they claimed everything looked fine on their end and my termination date is actually open-ended. They said OptumRx was a separate system and not their expertise, and switched me back to OptumRx help. Oy. I got a different person, gave the whole story, and she said it looked fine to her, too. Was I in a parallel universe? Could there be a cookie problem? The tech person signed out and then signed back in, and finally it was right on my end (for now, anyway).
My PCP is still wrong when viewing the card PDF on the UHC site. I mentioned this while on with UHC, and the guy said I needed to request an updated card. I thought I already did, but I guess I'll wait a little longer. He claimed that despite the card looking wrong, Dr. H is definitely in the system as my PCP.
Also spoke to R in Dr. H's office who did not receive the email with the insurance change info (I'm beginning to think their site's messaging is a black hole), so I sent it to her regular email. She doesn't think they billed yet for Thursday's visit, so it would be nice to get that updated and avoid another hassle.
These are relatively small issues, but they add up to one big Oy. I don't know if these problems are due to badly designed systems, misguided policies, incompetent workers, or ... DRINKING.
Silly me, I spoke too soon. While the OptumRx site was fine over the weekend, I just checked and it had my old member number and old plan info (and no sign of the ear drops). This happened if I linked through the United (UHC) site or logged on directly. I called OptumRx and they said there was a weird error where the start date on my new plan was 1/1/14 but the end date was 12/31/13. Since it can't end before it starts, the system reverted to the old info (who knows, maybe this happened to Duane Reade... but they were able to put through the claim after I gave them my new info). OptumRx said the dates came from UHC and had to be changed by UHC.
Called UHC, and they claimed everything looked fine on their end and my termination date is actually open-ended. They said OptumRx was a separate system and not their expertise, and switched me back to OptumRx help. Oy. I got a different person, gave the whole story, and she said it looked fine to her, too. Was I in a parallel universe? Could there be a cookie problem? The tech person signed out and then signed back in, and finally it was right on my end (for now, anyway).
My PCP is still wrong when viewing the card PDF on the UHC site. I mentioned this while on with UHC, and the guy said I needed to request an updated card. I thought I already did, but I guess I'll wait a little longer. He claimed that despite the card looking wrong, Dr. H is definitely in the system as my PCP.
Also spoke to R in Dr. H's office who did not receive the email with the insurance change info (I'm beginning to think their site's messaging is a black hole), so I sent it to her regular email. She doesn't think they billed yet for Thursday's visit, so it would be nice to get that updated and avoid another hassle.
These are relatively small issues, but they add up to one big Oy. I don't know if these problems are due to badly designed systems, misguided policies, incompetent workers, or ... DRINKING.