General Discussion
Showing Original Post only (View all)Contrary to what some people are saying, health insurance workers are NOT your enemy. [View all]
Nor should they being working in conditions where they are afraid of what you think of them. To this end, I offer my own personal experience...
Back in the day, after I first graduated from undergrad, I worked as a health insurance claims adjuster. I considered myself as working on behalf of the claimants - not the insurance company that paid my salary. Perhaps the company should have considered that possibility before hiring a Berkeley grad. Anyway, you would not believe how many people do not follow up on their initial health insurance claims. I had a drawer half full of claims that couldn't be processed because the claimants wouldn't send me a simple authorization to obtain medical records. Company policy was to send out a second request and then forward the files to archives -- basically a warehouse where cases go to die. But, I was young and idealistic and figured that all of my claimants were in need of financial assistance. On numerous occasions, I stayed late - well after my boss and her boss and our big boss had all gone home. What was I doing? I was conducting searches, looking for claimants who had moved and not left a forwarding address. I was pulling phone books from the city that claimant was last known to reside in. I was sending out third, fourth and fifth notices. Nothing made my day more than when I found a missing claimant, was able to contact them, was able to obtain that signed authorization form, obtain the medical records I needed and get that claimant's claim paid. My bosses probably suspected what I was doing. My drawer of doomed claims was emptier than those of other adjusters. You know what though? What I did was something that I will never, ever regret.
The point is this...If you ever cross paths with a claims adjuster who goes to bat for you, take the time to thank them. They may just be staying late, on your behalf - not because they have to, but because they want to - despite the fact that they don't even know you. And, you most certainly don't know them.