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Cancelled

Last year my health insurance provider decided to jack up my monthly premiums by so much that the new premium would be $400.00 more a month than I actually earn in gross income. For the record, I made three routine doctor's visits in 2021 and had three rounds of blood tests. That's all I used my insurance for the entire year. Anyway, I could have asked my guy to help me with the payments, or pulled the money out of my savings account, but I decided to see if I qualified for government assistance. As it turns out I did, so I enrolled in that healthcare.gov program where they pay part of the cost, and then paid my first, greatly reduced premium.

My insurance provider got confused by this (I'm still not sure why), didn't log the change or give me credit for the first payment, or the one I made before that, and cancelled my insurance policy -- without telling me or sending me any notification -- retroactive to November 30th.

Fast forward to this month, which I spent in complete, ignorant bliss as to my insurance coverage status. I go and have my quarterly blood tests, and then see the doctor a week later to discuss the results. I'm doing better with my numbers, thanks to increased exercise and some dietary changes. As I go to check out the clerk at the front desk informs me that my insurance is "inactive." That's how I found out they cancelled my policy.

After much effort and confusion, I am insured again. I think. It's been a week, and I have yet to get any confirmation on that. I have one e-mail that says "Thanks for making your first payment" that I got when I made the first payment for the second time, and that's it. I'll have to pay for my January doctor's visit and the blood tests out of pocket because I was uninsured at the time. I also still have no idea why they cancelled my policy.

Health insurance should not be this much of a headache.

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