About a month ago, as I was reviewing my Visa charges, I noticed that I was being billed for Humana supplemental Medicare insurance. This surprised me as I had switched to a Medicare Advantage plan with a different provider in December, effective Jan 1, 2022. Everything involved in that switchover – including changing the billing for my few prescription medications – went smoothly, so I discarded my Humana card.
Well, not totally smoothly, I guess. As soon as I realized that I was being charged for coverage that didn’t actually exist, I canceled the automatic billing via the Humana website (which confirmed that I had “no active policies”), to avoid incurring more charges. Then I tried to call the Humana “customer care center” to get a refund. That so-called “customer care center” was simply a series of about 8 upsell opportunities, via a robot. I tried, about 8 times, to get through to a real person, without success. Frustrated, I started swearing at the robot. She chided me for using “inappropriate language” and diverted my call to an escort service.
That’s right, folks, Humana hooked me up with a hooker.
It would be hilarious if if wasn’t so damn infuriating.
Today I decided to file a claim through Visa. I was actually able to talk to a person there and, surprisingly, she was able to immediately get a Humana person on the line. I explained the situation and after being switched to another real person and explaining the situation again, was able to achieve the promise of satisfaction.
But only a promise. The situation, as I understand it, is that my health insurance was canceled, effective 1/1/2022, as I expected. But for reasons that are unclear, I continued to be billed for the now non-existent coverage. That is bad enough, but because the coverage was no longer in effect, a check would have to be sent to my address on file, which is no longer valid (and hasn’t been valid for about 8 years – I guess that shows how healthy I have been as they have never had to send anything to my invalid address). To change the address is a separate request that she, as a “customer service specialist” was not authorized to perform. She would have to open a second customer care case and escalate it to a higher level to correct my address before she could issue a check!
I have a feeling that it will be months before I see that money.
Just insane.
But the hooker was very nice. Thanks, Humana. I will send you the bill.
Murder She Wrote musings
I often go to sleep watching Murder She Wrote on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel. It is very much like Perry Mason in that there is often an intricate plot and I invariably fall asleep before the end, so I can watch the same episode multiple times without knowing the outcome.
But Perry Mason is set in LA while Murder She Wrote is set in Maine (mostly). It isn’t surprising that the weather is always good (or at least not cold) for Perry. But why is there not a flake of snow in any Maine episode of Murder She Wrote? Why are the characters never bundled up? Have the writers never been to Maine? If they were concerned about accuracy, the majority of the episodes would be filmed in knee-deep snow.