Diabetchik v. UHC v. Omnipod

So.... I called Insulet (Omnipod company) on Monday and left a message stating I didn't know what information they needed. I left the same information for the UHC representative. Here I was totally bad-mouthing the insurance company when it turned out that I wasn't hearing from the Omnipod company. Ugh. I heard from the 3rd party appeal people and they said they needed a letter of necessity (in addition to the medical necessity paperwork my doctor already filled out!) and the billing codes for the supplies. Seemed easy enough IF I could hear back from the Omnipod company rep. I called twice and my 3rd party unbiased insurance person left 3 messages there. Hmmmm... not a resounding approval for Omnipod customer service.

But..... at a fundraising walk we did, I was able to meet a local rep for the Omnipod company and, after living with this damn disease for so long, I figured what the hell, I had nothing to lose and I called her for help. I explained that the customer service rep for her company wasn't calling me back and I really wanted to be on this pump. I also explained that I had additional (new) insurance information (which I had left on my voicemail to the Omnipod rep before). The local rep was AWESOME. Probably because, like me, she is also a Juvenile Diabetic and has lived through the annoyance of insurance hell. She got on the ball, asked me to fax my additional information to her, and she'd work her angle.

Surprise, surprise..... the Omnipod rep called me today. She didn't address the last phone calls I made, she just wanted to verify that she had my new insurance information. Gee, think someone is breathing down her neck?!

Don't get me wrong....... I'm not out to give any customer service rep a hard time because that is a thankless job, but you kind of want to remind them that this is someones life they are handling and it's pretty time sensitive to me.

Oh, by the way...called Minimed today to update personal information. Turns out that I owe them $41.60 for my last box of supplies, but they OWE ME a credit of $317.42. They overcharged my supplies from Nov. 2006. I was told that when I owed money for supplies, I had to call and instruct them to deduct it from my credit-- their billing department couldn't automatically do that. HOW INSANE. I think they were just hoping I wouldn't notice that they owed me money.

Maybe a call to the better business bureau is in order..........