How long does it take to add a person to a small group plan?
Apparently a lot longer than the 48 hours we were promised on Monday.
Backstory:
Anthem small group client, looking for April 1 effective date for new hire (when he became eligible). Sent in the paperwork mid-March.
Which paperwork was apparently not entirely legible on Anthem's end (it happens), so they requested another, cleaner copy, which we then provided.
April 1 comes and goes, no sign of his ID card, nor any indication that he's been added to the group. I keep calling our contact person, who keeps checking, and on Monday was told would be done in 48 hours.
That was something like 100 hours ago, and still no sign of him on the group roster, and no ID card , temporary or otherwise.
And he's still not on the group billing roster.
Now, because I'm basically a nice guy, yesterday afternoon I gave their media folks a heads' up, and invited them to address the issue.
Which they did and, to their credit, responded very quickly. Meanwhile, my Cornerstone rep was also working her magic. I was hopeful that between the two of us, we could help this client out.
This morning, she came through, and I learned just what the holdup was: Anthem was conflating the employee's hire date and eligibility date. Once she was able to help them resolve this, we were able to obtain usable ID information.
I'd like to say that this was resolved to my satisfaction, but it really wasn't: for one thing, the time it took to get it resolved was ridiculous, and the fact that Anthem didn't reach out to me to confirm these dates was just dumb. I'm clearly listed as the agent, and they have both my phone number and email address.
I do appreciate the help offered by Anthem's media folks, Jill B and Leslie P. And, of course, the immeasurable aid rendered by my Cornerstone rep, Beth D.
They say that all's well that ends well, but I don't think that applies here. I realize that no one's perfect, and that companies have processes, but when you have sick or injured folks who've done their part in getting you the information required of them, it seems to me that you have an obligation to also act expeditiously on their behalf.
We'll see if that happens going forward.
Apparently a lot longer than the 48 hours we were promised on Monday.
Backstory:
Anthem small group client, looking for April 1 effective date for new hire (when he became eligible). Sent in the paperwork mid-March.
Which paperwork was apparently not entirely legible on Anthem's end (it happens), so they requested another, cleaner copy, which we then provided.
April 1 comes and goes, no sign of his ID card, nor any indication that he's been added to the group. I keep calling our contact person, who keeps checking, and on Monday was told would be done in 48 hours.
That was something like 100 hours ago, and still no sign of him on the group roster, and no ID card , temporary or otherwise.
And he's still not on the group billing roster.
Now, because I'm basically a nice guy, yesterday afternoon I gave their media folks a heads' up, and invited them to address the issue.
Which they did and, to their credit, responded very quickly. Meanwhile, my Cornerstone rep was also working her magic. I was hopeful that between the two of us, we could help this client out.
This morning, she came through, and I learned just what the holdup was: Anthem was conflating the employee's hire date and eligibility date. Once she was able to help them resolve this, we were able to obtain usable ID information.
I'd like to say that this was resolved to my satisfaction, but it really wasn't: for one thing, the time it took to get it resolved was ridiculous, and the fact that Anthem didn't reach out to me to confirm these dates was just dumb. I'm clearly listed as the agent, and they have both my phone number and email address.
I do appreciate the help offered by Anthem's media folks, Jill B and Leslie P. And, of course, the immeasurable aid rendered by my Cornerstone rep, Beth D.
They say that all's well that ends well, but I don't think that applies here. I realize that no one's perfect, and that companies have processes, but when you have sick or injured folks who've done their part in getting you the information required of them, it seems to me that you have an obligation to also act expeditiously on their behalf.
We'll see if that happens going forward.
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