My relation with the HRs of this company is jinxed. Whenever I have been in need of help they have let me down. The first person who handled my hire has already quit when I wanted to process my OPT; followed by another who took up from him, who too quit at a time when I had to get my full time employment details and I have had hold ups in getting things done including the denial of my relocation amount which was promised initially. For the last 3 months till date I have been after my current HR person to get some tax refunds and every time she has carelessness or excuses. So it was just a matter of time before the present one quit or go on indefinite leave and she chose the day to be today.
I have not been doing well with a sore throat and congestion for the few days and being a total anti-hospital guy, I was managing myself with some home remedies and self suffering. Since my situation wasn’t getting much better even after a week, I decided may be it was time I utilized my insurance. After all, I am now a professional and paying more to my health care than when in college! As a first step, I decided to figure out the list of physicians and hospitals which work be ‘within the network’ for my insurance (My vision has gone from bad to worse and my wait to go to India to new eye check and glasses isn’t seeing any light).
When I called up the health care providers, I was told that they could not locate my records and I contact my HR. I was not surprised and was sure that my HR person would definitely have messed up again To add to my misery, she had gone on maternity leave (she would have anyway gone on maternity leave even if it was just her 4th month of labor… thats how jinxed stuffs work)
I conveyed my issue to the lady who was in the next cubicle and hearing me 2 more ladies joined her. They searched all around the place to find my record without finding anything. They asked if I submitted it to my HR person or not and I went in detail how I had opted for ‘Plan A’ and not ’Plan B’, how I filled up the 20th rather than wait till the 23rd etc etc. The ladies started worrying if my benefits were submitted of was misplaced from their record and a series of phone calls and email searches ensued. To substantiate the claim for irresponsible attitude I have had to bear from my HR-on-leave, I poured out my chapter of 3 month old struggle to get my ‘un-refunded’ tax. When the ladies were not able to lead anywhere and I was sure that they were convinced of my HR's incompetence, I decided to make their life easier and offered to go up and get the copy of my enrollment form I had submitted for that they can redeem their department in general.
To my utter dismay, what I found in my folder was not the copy but the original health insurance enrollment forms. I never made any copies of them and what I had filed were THE originals and the truth was I never ever submitted it to the HR. Its true I filled it on 20th and I opted for Plan A; but all these matters only had I submitted them.
I ran down with the documents and backed it up with lots of apologies to all 3 of them and was told by them that they were almost starting to censure my HR for her ignorance. Thank god that she had gone on leave, or else she would have killed me for my allegations. I had made a complete fool of myself today and felt like a stupid for wasting good half an hour or more of 3 others. For all my complaints about carelessness and irresponsible behavior, I ended up on the receiving end today.
Mistakes are bound to happen with anyone, after all we are all humans (verbatim: one of the HR ladies); but what is more scarier is that all these months, I have been driving around without insurance in a country where having a health insurance is the first thing a person has to do after arriving in this world. Fortunately, by god’s grace, I have been safe and driving defensively so far; but the very thought of what did not happen freaks me out. This would also mean that till I get my paper works into the system (which might take from a week to two), it would be all walk in the park. Not having an insurance will always weigh in my mind and I don’t want to risk anything now. I would not have given a damn about such things if I were in India, but not in US!
Well, I think this is what insurances are meant to be, isn’t it? Not something which you should expect to be utilized, but something which is there on your back as an assurance that nothing would go wrong with you.
AVS
I have not been doing well with a sore throat and congestion for the few days and being a total anti-hospital guy, I was managing myself with some home remedies and self suffering. Since my situation wasn’t getting much better even after a week, I decided may be it was time I utilized my insurance. After all, I am now a professional and paying more to my health care than when in college! As a first step, I decided to figure out the list of physicians and hospitals which work be ‘within the network’ for my insurance (My vision has gone from bad to worse and my wait to go to India to new eye check and glasses isn’t seeing any light).
When I called up the health care providers, I was told that they could not locate my records and I contact my HR. I was not surprised and was sure that my HR person would definitely have messed up again To add to my misery, she had gone on maternity leave (she would have anyway gone on maternity leave even if it was just her 4th month of labor… thats how jinxed stuffs work)
I conveyed my issue to the lady who was in the next cubicle and hearing me 2 more ladies joined her. They searched all around the place to find my record without finding anything. They asked if I submitted it to my HR person or not and I went in detail how I had opted for ‘Plan A’ and not ’Plan B’, how I filled up the 20th rather than wait till the 23rd etc etc. The ladies started worrying if my benefits were submitted of was misplaced from their record and a series of phone calls and email searches ensued. To substantiate the claim for irresponsible attitude I have had to bear from my HR-on-leave, I poured out my chapter of 3 month old struggle to get my ‘un-refunded’ tax. When the ladies were not able to lead anywhere and I was sure that they were convinced of my HR's incompetence, I decided to make their life easier and offered to go up and get the copy of my enrollment form I had submitted for that they can redeem their department in general.
To my utter dismay, what I found in my folder was not the copy but the original health insurance enrollment forms. I never made any copies of them and what I had filed were THE originals and the truth was I never ever submitted it to the HR. Its true I filled it on 20th and I opted for Plan A; but all these matters only had I submitted them.
I ran down with the documents and backed it up with lots of apologies to all 3 of them and was told by them that they were almost starting to censure my HR for her ignorance. Thank god that she had gone on leave, or else she would have killed me for my allegations. I had made a complete fool of myself today and felt like a stupid for wasting good half an hour or more of 3 others. For all my complaints about carelessness and irresponsible behavior, I ended up on the receiving end today.
Mistakes are bound to happen with anyone, after all we are all humans (verbatim: one of the HR ladies); but what is more scarier is that all these months, I have been driving around without insurance in a country where having a health insurance is the first thing a person has to do after arriving in this world. Fortunately, by god’s grace, I have been safe and driving defensively so far; but the very thought of what did not happen freaks me out. This would also mean that till I get my paper works into the system (which might take from a week to two), it would be all walk in the park. Not having an insurance will always weigh in my mind and I don’t want to risk anything now. I would not have given a damn about such things if I were in India, but not in US!
Well, I think this is what insurances are meant to be, isn’t it? Not something which you should expect to be utilized, but something which is there on your back as an assurance that nothing would go wrong with you.
AVS
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