The Health Insurance Story

So here is my perplexing health insurance story...

During my exit interview at the Marshfield Clinic (where I worked for the last 12 years), I was asked if I wanted COBRA since I was leaving. My last day of work was August 11. Since I was scheduled to start work on August 24 -- within the same month, I opted not to get COBRA. In most places of employment, since the premiums are paid in the beginning of the month, resigning in August would provide me with health insurance coverage for the entire month of August. Since I was starting work in August itself at UB and UBMD, I guessed that -- as happens most places -- my insurance would either start on the first date of hire or the first date of the next month, which would be September 1. I therefore anticipated no break in health insurance coverage. This was important for two reasons: it would be nice to have uninterrupted health insurance coverage should something happen and two, it is now punishable by penalty if one is uninsured for a period of time.

I had a benefits meeting scheduled for August 28, but since I wanted Amy to be able to come to that meeting (she has a better mind for numbers and these kinds of things than I do), we preponed our visit to HR (Human Resources). Since Amy was to be a Teaching Assistant (TA) during her math graduate program, we thought we could discuss our benefits together.

The night before our appointment with HR, Amy and myself were reading the Welcome Packet that UB had sent me through Dr. Ann Curtis' office. We were shocked to discover that there was a 42-day waiting period between date of hire and when health insurance would start! There was no explanation as to why this was. This would mean that my family and me would be without health insurance coverage for that period and would either have to buy insurance on the Marketplace or purchase tail coverage (COBRA) through my previous employer at about $ 2,000. We were both surprised, shocked and rather upset at this, since no one had mentioned it during the entire hiring and onboarding process. We also found that for the plan we were deciding to go with, health insurance for my family would cost $ 185 per pay period.

The next day, we brought up our concerns with HR. The representative said that this was University Policy and there was nothing we could do about it. Interestingly however, my wife, as a TA was also entitled to health benefits. This would kick in immediately and our entire family could be covered for $ 95 per pay period -- less than half of what I would have had to pay. It also did not include the co-pays I would have to make for each doctor's appointment.

I was surprised to learn that my TA wife could get health insurance immediately, while I, a provider of healthcare and a University at Buffalo faculty could not. Furthermore, it appeared that although she paid less than half of the premium I would have had to pay to insure the family on my insurance plan (through the same carrier), the benefits, coverage and co-pay were actually better.

Of course, I am confused. I was brought up believing that if you paid more money, you typically got more goods or more value, since you paid more. I was also led to believe that faculty paying a higher rate and in a better pay grade within the same university system would get better benefits. Apparently, this is not so.

I declare here (for those who do not know) that I believe that some (at least rudimentary) healthcare should be provided by the government from our taxes. The US has the highest per capital expenditure on healthcare and ranks 37th on healthcare quality in the world. It is also the only developed country that does not have government-provided healthcare. Instead, we focus on healthcare insurance, making laws that mandate everyone to carry insurance and subsidizing health insurance policies through private vendors by paying the subsidies to the vendors so that the premiums may be 'affordable' through the marketplace. What ends up happening is that insurance companies raised the premiums for their previous, paying subscribers and increased the amount of deductables so that most reasonably health folk now pay higher premiums and pay for whatever little healthcare they require out of pocket (because they have not met their deductable). Who wins? The insurance companies -- who are businesses and cannot take a loss if they are to continue to stay in business. Who loses? The poor saps who pay a premium, pay for most healthcare out of their pockets (until they have paid several thousand dollars in deductables).

Yeah, I am not a fan of this system.