Mindless Chatter FRIDAY, whoo-hoo!

Mmmmm Panera! I wish we had one.

Continuing from yesterday's insurance saga... I guess she wasn't making it up:

http://www.geisingerhealthsystem.net/patients/business_services/pscc6.html

(not our ins company but it's all I could find about it).

How stupid! Why can't they let us choose? 

janobonano

How stupid! Why can't they let us choose? 

I'd love to know the rationale behind this "birthday rule". It just doesn't make sense to me considering one person usually has better coverage than the other and it would only make sense that you'd want that to be the primary. What does this mean for you guys and the hospital bills?

Normally on Fridays I feel energized, but today I just feel blah. Considering it's only 8:10, I have a lot of day to get thru, so I hope I perk up soon.

I'm in Central FL near Megan, and I told her on the phone last night that if Heaven's gonna send me instructions for an Ark it better be soon -- however, MY dogs are all spayed/neutered so they aren't gonna be up for that "two by two" thing!! 

And THEY ARE OVER IT!!  They're all trying to 'hold it' now for the duration -- I'm so hoping it clears off a bit for the weekend.  This is HECK on trying to finish house-training a puppy!!

We have Give Kids the World tomorrow and it's so much better when it's not raining.  No one likes to stop in the rain to pet a dog!!

 Aw Callie, you need one of those awning tents to sit under so everyone can pet the pups!  For that matter you need one outside your house so the dogs can play.  My dogs couldn't care less about the rain.  Rain Schmain, lets go out anyway!  Even thunder and lightning doesn't bother them, though an especially loud crack of thunder will make Onyx jump.

I've turned my dining room into a room where we can...duh da da daaaaa....EAT!  Its the craziest thing.  But I'm tired of Onyx digging under the coffee table because some little girl has kicked the rest of her dinner under there and I missed it on the cleanup.  No more eating in the living room.  It was nice last night eating at the kitchen table, and we even had our breakfast there this morning.  Such a change.  We actually talked and aside from Kali climbing on to the table afterwards, it was really pleasant.  

Somebody said this was going to be the hottest summer on record.  I think they were lying.  Maybe they meant the wettest.  That must be it.  I'm not really complaining because the few days that it has gotten really hot, I almost died.  But now I have the pool to float around in and no reason to use it.  Did I envoke Murphy's Law?

cakana

I'd love to know the rationale behind this "birthday rule". It just doesn't make sense to me considering one person usually has better coverage than the other and it would only make sense that you'd want that to be the primary. What does this mean for you guys and the hospital bills?

I found this online, but I can't tell if it's recent. It says May 1989 at the top. Explains a bit but not why we can't choose.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0903/is_n5_v7/ai_8788829

Here's part of the article:

Another way to trim reimbursements is to use the birthday rule, which determines the primary plan for dependents. Under this rule, the plan of the parent whose birthday comes first in the calendar year is primary. In cases of divorce, the parent who has custody is primary, but the birthday rule applies to parents who have joint custody.

Under this rule, employers, in theory, will pick up the tab for dependents only half of the time. Under the old gender rule, the father's plan was primary, which meant that male-dominated companies paid for almost all of employees' dependent medical costs.

"The gender rule was seen as sexist; it also discriminated against employers with male-dominated workforces," says *** Wright, group insurance manager of Caterpillar, Inc., Peoria, Ill. "The birthday rule recognizes the changing demographics of the workforce and also spreads the cost more evenly among employers."

All but 12 states--Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virgina--have approved the NAIC birthday rule. However, this is largely a de facto recognition of what many employers do anyway.

I'm not sure what it will mean for our bills. My insurance is crappy - I have a $2,000 deductible (not by choice). I don't know if we're going to have to pay all or if they'll cover 80% for the preventative stuff (would not include ER visit and 3-day hospital stay.) They set up this new "health savings account" thing for everyone. Unfortunately, since I have secondary insurance, I don't qualify.

Crap! I just talked to my co-worker that handles insurance. She said that they don't do the "birthday rule" in MN (where my employer is based). I need to get Willa under my plan asap and pay 4 months of premiums. I’m going to see if it’s possible to add me under DH's insurance as primary, and drop my insurance through work. I hope they let us do it that way.

All but 12 states--Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virgina--have approved the NAIC birthday rule. However, this is largely a de facto recognition of what many employers do anyway.

Well, since Calif. isn't on the list, I wonder if they do that here too and I've just never heard of it. DH and I each have our own thru our jobs.

Even if you have to pay a little extra, it sounds like it might be worth it to just go with DH's policy. Too bad your company wouldn't compensate you for whatever they'd normally pay to cover you. My employer won't do that either, but DH could waive his coverage (with proof he had it thru me) and they'd pay him $200 a month. It's still not worth it for us, but it's not a bad deal. I sure hope you can get this straightened out. I can't imagine anything more stressful and especially when you've been blindsided by it. Good luck and hopefully someone who knows all the important details can help you work thru this.

 ouch!  My shoulder has been killing me for ages (off and on) - I went to doc a few weeks back and he said partial rotator cuff tear and impingement.  Gave me exercises which I have been doing religiously.  Guess what still in a lot of pain and it is more or less constant now.  This is bad news because we'll be heading down the xray (for bone spurs) and mri (how bad is the tear) route.  (of course this leads me to slagging off the insurance co's again because mine doesn't cover mri's until AFTER deductible is met).  Best healthcare in the world - not - however it does win the most expensive award