InHealth Collapse: Immediate Aftermath

So I reached out (via email) to my InHealth clients today:

"Yesterday afternoon, the Ohio Department of Insurance placed InHealth into receivership. This was not completely unexpected: almost all the Co-Ops nationally have failed; we were hoping that IH would be an exception.

The good news is that the DOI will handle taking care of outstanding bills, etc, and this is a trigger for a Special Open Enrollment period so that you can obtain coverage elsewhere.

I'll be in touch early next week to let you know how we can help with this transition. Meantime, have a GREAT (and safe!) Memorial Day Weekend."

I sent this to all my IH clients, and almost immediately received this reply from one:

"Does this mean that I will be required to meet my deductible again this year with the new company?  I've already met my deductible with IH for this year and have more expected medical expenses scheduled in the next few months (MRI for GI and more testing for the neurosurgeon).  Hopefully they take these sorts of things into consideration. 

Hope you have an enjoyable weekend as well!

Keep me posted..."

Good question.

Here's my reply:

"That will depend on the carriers, but my guess would be that yes, everything would reset to zero. I’ll know more as they roll out what options will be available: it’s possible (no idea how likely) that the DOI could make some provision for this. But just don’t know yet."

To which he responded:

"Ugghhhh.....not the answer I was hoping for; however, the one I had expected.  Guess they feel like the working middle class is made of unlimited amounts of money. Rant over.  Lol!"

I can certainly empathize. I'm sure that the coming weeks will bring some clarification, both as to how the transition will be handled by the DOI, and my own choices viz fees.

A dear friend has reminded me that things change, and I do need to be more open to other practice choices (less medical, more life, etc). I know that he's right, and I've been wrestling with this for a while (as regular readers have likely gathered). I do love what I do (mostly), so one supposes that it's natural to sound off on having to adjust course.

But time and tide....