Non-auto Pay Insurance Should be a 1-Year Contract – Story

My husband and I have a small landscaping business in rural Oregon. Since 2010, we have both always had and paid for our own health insurance fearing our work could put us at risk for accident. We are 35-40 yrs old and have never had a major claim other that $5-$15 a month for prescriptions and annual checkups. Last November, we re-signed up during the open enrollment and paid our premiums online for January and February. Then I believed I set up Auto-pay to continue payments. In May, I got a letter saying our coverage was being dropped. I called the company, Lifewise, and asked if I could pay the back payments as we have the money for it, it was only a mistake. I appealed explaining the auto-pay mistake and was denied. I feel irresponsible that I did not notice I was not paying, but we have so many bills and I simply did not notice until too late. I think that health insurance should be a 1-year contract. It’s strange that we can’t sign up for another plan when all we do is give them lots of money and haven’t asked for much in return! I thought we were the target bracket for insurance companies to try to enlist. I’m sure this has happened to many others as we can’t be the only ones who messed up the Auto-pay.

EDITOR: Couldn’t agree more. See our 1-year contract solution here, you weren’t the first one to suggest it, neither are we. Don’t forget you have appeal rights!