Guaranteed Healthcare

Retiree Hires Attorney to Keep Her Coverage

“I was promised lifetime insurance by my employer (USA Today).  In May, my employer farmed out billing to Aetna and refused to take my check,” said Coline George of Camarillo, California. “Aetna had no record of me. The only informed person I talked to said that Aetna only did my employer's COBRA account.”

Many Americans must navigate COBRA benefit rules and regulations following job losses or retirement.  COBRA benefits allow former employer-based group health insurance coverage to be retained for several months following job separation.  But the benefits are expensive as the employer no longer pays any portion of the premium, and it can also be very difficult to keep coverage in force, as Coline soon found out.  Read more casualties

She couldn’t get Aetna to acknowledge her payments and was convinced they wanted her off the policy. It seemed no matter where she sent her payment she felt she was getting the run around. Finally, she hired an attorney to make sure her payment was accepted and acknowledged to ensure her coverage was not cancelled for non- payment of premium.

“In June, I hired a lawyer to get my employer to accept my check.  In August, I get a statement from Aetna saying that I am now in COBRA. The manager of my employer’s retiree healthcare benefits told me it was a typographical error, but I must send my next premium in with the coupon attached to that statement to the address on the statement in order for my insurance to continue,” Coline said. 

She tried to alert government agencies to what she came to believe was a way for the insurance carrier to weed her out and avoid keeping her policy in force. “My only hope of continuing my insurance is to pay the lawyer to send my premiums in. I now withdraw money from my retirement and pay six months at a time because it costs me $250 every time the lawyer sends my insurance payments in,” Coline said.

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Sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee

Eighty-two percent of Americans think the U.S. healthcare system should be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt (Commonwealth Fund, Aug. 7, 2008). America's nurses know that only single-payer, improved and expanded Medicare for all will fix our broken system and the tragedy of our devastated families. HR 676, by U.S. Rep John Conyers, is the most comprehensive, cost effective way to achieve guaranteed healthcare for all.

For more information, or to contact this patient: Liz Jacobs, RN 510/273-2232