I was excited to receive my brand-spanking-new, official insurance card in the mail yesterday. Since I haven’t seen a doctor in about ten years, I splurged on Humana’s platinum plan (zero deductible, with a $1500 per year out-of-pocket max). Before settling on the plan, I spent about a week researching network doctors here in the Austin area, reading Yelp reviews, etc, to be sure Humana’s coverage was adequate. After choosing a primary-care physician who Humana’s database said was accepting new patients, I was disappointed to find out he was actually unavailable. Fortunately, my second choice was, indeed, seeing new patients. I got an appointment with her in early January. Wow. Fingers crossed, the system was actually working. And then, yesterday, I opened the envelope containing my card. Uh oh.
The primary-care physician listed on the card was someone I had never heard of. Certainly, I had not chosen her. A Google search of her name indicated she was probably retired. Since the first two letters of her last name were the same as my chosen doctor’s, I assumed that someone at Humana had simply clicked the wrong doctor from a drop-down list while writing up my policy. So I called the Humana customer service number listed on my new card. The wait time was more than a half hour. I could not wait that long. Later, as I was doing my afternoon errands, I started worrying that I might lose my chosen doctor. So, in the evening, I called Humana back, determined to wait as long as it took. After about 40 minutes, I finally reached the voice of a kindly, perceptive human being. He told me that my issue – being assigned an incorrect doctor – had been “epidemic” this week. He predicted he could fix things for me. He was very nice. He then put me on hold for about another 20 minutes.
Even though I’m not a fan of the for-profit medical/insurance system, I noticed myself – while on hold – feeling very thankful that someone who had the ability to facilitate my healthcare needs seemed genuinely interested in making sure I was taken care of. Yes, I’ve been angry with disingenuous Republicans for forcing liberals like me to be the defenders of a corporate solution for the nation’s healthcare woes. But here, yesterday evening, I was simply talking with another human being, not a corporation. And, while I don’t want to romanticize things, he seemed pretty excited too. With a clamoring buzz of activity in the background, he sounded like he thought he was actually doing something – well – kind of important. You can just tell when people are energized by creativity and good will – when they think they are participating in a worthwhile project. He repeatedly, almost nervously, told me how pleased he was to be able to help me line up the right doctor. When I said his office sounded busy, he proudly told me that “business is booming” – thanks to so many people enrolling through the Affordable Care Act.
When I asked him why he thought there had been so many cases of wrongly assigned doctors, he said something vague about “glitches” with Healthcare.gov. But, in my case at least, I had made my selection with a live Humana rep a couple of weeks earlier. After finishing my business with Healthcare.gov, I had resorted to completing the deal over the phone because Humana’s web site had some unresolved bugs. (Among the various problems was that Humana’s site was displaying incorrect rates.) Yesterday’s rep then agreed that the error was probably Humana’s, not the government’s. And then he told me I would soon be mailed a new card with the correct doctor.
My whole point here is simply that the entire system is currently being overhauled and greatly expanded – so it’s understandable that all players would be enduring a learning curve. Glitches and errors are par for the course, and are easily forgiven if the end goal is met. I’m certainly in no mood to throw blame at Humana for wasting my time while they work through their issues. As long as they’re willing to figure things out, I’m willing to spend an hour on hold, happy to be part of the new wave of people who will soon have healthcare for the first time in years.