You can't keep a lot of secrets on this blog, so I have shared a great many of my own. Many of you know that I am bipolar, and a recovering addict and alcoholic.
And, like many of you, I have an insurance company that I deal with every month. My story, like many of yours that I have read during my time here (and trust me, I'm ancient in blog time)is similar in many ways. But I will tell my tale, should you care to join me below the fold...
I am on disability, and my insurer is Northwestern Mutual Life. I bought my policies in 1986, and became disabled in 1988. I report my income monthly, and I get a check. That is, I USED to get my checks for my disability electronically deposited. Not any more!
Now I am well aware of the fact that Northwestern has been paying me for decades. During the course of time, I have been to several psychiatrists. My last two passed away; my present psychiatrist is quite healthy, has an excellent reputation, and mercifully appears to have completely forgotten that I threatened to sue his ass if he made me go out on a "field trip" when I was in a psych ward many years ago. Needless to say, I have not reminded him of THAT.
But I digress. Two years ago, when faxing the form to Northwestern, I apparently failed to fax my monthly statement of income and expenses. I have made such mistakes in the past, and Northwestern has waived the recoupment. But this year, they are withholding $500 from my check every month, and they are mailing it to me. Now everything is chaos. I have nearly lost my health insurance, I have had to borrow money from my brother to make ends meet, I worry that I will default on my mortgages...
I lead a relatively simple life - a ranch house, a used Pontiac Grand Am, and a dog and a cat. I am very lucky in many ways - I have a family who loves and supports me (they don't always understand me, but then again, I AM a bit of a challenge - my doctors are only allowed three wishes per appointment, and one shrink once called me "high functioning", which actually means "you scare the holy shit out of me"). I work from home. I'm not good at routines. I struggle. I have MANY character defects, which I have humbly asked God to remove, but She can only do so much on any given day. Even worse, I am Irish, which in my family means you ALWAYS harbor a grudge, you ALWAYS get revenge, and you fuck them when they can't see you coming.
So here's the deal - I fight Northwestern like a junkyard dog. I write, I fax, I report them to various agencies. I think they believe they will ultimately wear me down, but this time they picked the wrong victim. Until I die, I will never forget the way I was treated by them this year.
The company I knew in 1986 has vanished. The Northwestern of 2009 should not be proud. I always figured they had meetings where they prayed for my death, so they could pay out on the life insurance policy, and be done with me. So I screwed that pooch this year. I surrendered the life insurance policy I bought from them. I have another through a professional association, which is more than enough to pay for a fine funeral and burial, plus the party they will need to get through it all (My Dad once told me that if we didn't have a party after his funeral, he was coming back, and it would NOT be pretty - I believe him).
So that's my story. It's no different from many I have read here, but it's mine, so I'm keeping it.