A logo sign outside of a facility occupied by Aetna Inc. in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.

UPDATE 1/42016:

ORIGINAL POST:

New Year, same Aetna.  The phone rang ridiculously early this morning. It was my pharmacy, CVS calling about my Aetna benefits.

Oh sure, I said hold on, Aetna helpfully changed ALL their plans on ALL their insureds…again.

So we go over ALL the numbers on my card…none of them work which means (you guessed it) no new Tamoxifen prescription for me today.

My pharmacist says she’ll call Aetna and we ended our phone call.

I start going through my paperwork, to see if I missed a number.  I hadn’t. But they once again signed me up with automatic bill pay which on them I have never trusted. And besides I always pay on time and technically early so why do I have to have that, right?

So I jump on the “new and improved” Aetna website. First of all it is not in the least compatible with Internet Explorer. Only somewhat compatible with FireFox. The only browser that really works with it is Google Chrome.

Half the website doesn’t really go anywhere. It appears child-like simple but all aspects still do not work. Especially super frustrating? Their bill-pay “partner”. Partner is corporate speak for they subcontracted something. And the subcontractor doesn’t let you get into your actual account. When you transfer over from Aetna it LOGS YOU OUT! And that is all you get.

No, no I actually did NOT log out. I do not want automatic bill pay. But nooooooo. I can’t look. Every time I mosey up to the “partner” I am logged out.

I see long drawn out phone calls in my future because I can’t change any information on the regular website for Aetna, not even a phone number.

I am so glad that we are under the Affordable Care Act. I still have yet to see anything other than extra layers to get what I want and need.

I do not feel Aetna and other major insurers are breast cancer friendly really. Because if they were not only would be coverage be easier, so would navigating their damn websites. And I am hardly a computer luddite.

Oh with new and improved Aetna because I have really good doctors in a really good health system it is now $150 every time I walk in the door to their offices. And as a breast cancer survivor under active treatment I still have lots and lots of appointments each year.

One good bit of Aetna news is I see some opposition finally to their proposed merger with Humana (which a lot of hospital systems and doctors do not accept because they are so awful). Click on hyperlink below for story.

Anyway, Happy New Year to all of you and may 2016 bring you the best year ever…except in the case of health insurance because I simply do not believe it is possible.

When is the day going to come when they reform the actual health insurance companies?