It Must be a Full Moon

Sometimes I just have to let off steam. I am sure it is a full moon, or there is something in the water. There must be some logical explanation for the content and tone of the phone calls I have received just today.

One lady called for health insurance quotes. She didn't like the way I answered the phone, so she hung up.

That 10 second or so exchange saved me a lot of frustration so no big deal.

Another person emailed about her challenges in finding health insurance. She gave enough detail that I knew she was going to have some challenges and included her phone number.

I took that as an invitation to call, so I did . . .

She proceeded to tell me how messed up the health insurance system is, tell me she has already applied and been turned down and then asked my opinion of a short term medical plan. When I told her the STM plan would not cover her pre-existing conditions she launched into another tirade about how "the health insurance system" is unfair.

I let her continue, and just waited on her to get over it.

When she was done, I asked if she wanted my help.

Her response was she already knows what the health insurance companies will do to her and all she wanted was for someone to help her.

I told her no one, including myself, could help her.

By now I am thinking this is a good time to pour a glass of wine but it is just barely 10 AM so I will wait.

The most recent one called last week for advice. She is what I call a drive-by prospect. Hit's me with a few questions about health insurance then is gone.

I finally got her pinned down long enough to get some details on her medical history and told her I would pre-screen her with several health insurance companies to see which ones might make the most favorable offer. This took me about 45 minutes to gather the data and put it together in a concise format then send off for a response.

Over the next 24 hours I received feedback from several carriers. These were summarized along with my suggestion and sent off for evaluation. An hour or so later she called, said she was on the carrier site and could not figure out which plan I suggested.

In my email, I only provided one plan. The email contained a summary as well as product brochure and links to the PPO network. There was nothing to be gleaned from the health insurance company site that was not already in my email.

After a few minutes of discussion she said she wanted to look over the plans and would get back to me. Some time later she emailed and said she would call on Monday (today) to complete the application process.

As with all my clients, I offered to let her fill out a paper application, send to me for review, and then I would convert it into an electronic application. It is more work for me, but this way I know what information is submitted for underwriting and know in advance.

She did in fact call, but after 10 minutes she said she just wanted to complete the application by herself.

No problem.

I sent her a link and waited. About an hour later I received notification she has in fact completed the application.

She put information on the application that was ambiguous about one condition, over-stated another medical condition (based on what she had told me last week) and completely ignored another that we discussed last week.

I doubt she will be pleased with the offer once underwriting is complete.

Some days I think it might be best to let the phone ring and just ignore email requests for help.

In retrospect, this is probably one of those days.