UPS Health Insurance coverage?

newguy1

Well-Known Member
hi everyone, i have a question about the UPS Health insurance....ill try to make it short...

well my wife has now been in the hospital for 1 week now and has now been through 3 surgeries, 2 minor and 1 'normal' surgery... she had pneumothorax, something very spontanious to the lungs causing her lung to collapse. we dont have health insurance because she right now isnt working and i am still a newguy. we are going to have a very expensive hospital bill because she went to the emergency room, has stayed days in ICU and 3 surgeries. one of the sad things were that i havnt been able to be with her durring this hard and painful times, i have to work and if i tell my sup (which im sure they'll understand) i wont get paid and am afraid that they wont put me on my route (even though i work until the 24th...) well that last week pay was very necessary to pay our bills and apt....i think im going to be looking at somewhere around 50k in hospital bills which are going to kill us but our health is more important than anything.....

now with all this said, what does UPS insurance cover in this same situation? what is the deductable?

being covered on the UPS health insurance, what is our deductable for just emergency room visits?

i am not familiar with health insurance because i really never had it and have been very lucky to not have had health problems (knock on wood).

thanks for any imput guys....
 

OldUPSDriver

Well-Known Member
I went through the same procedure 2 years ago and also had the "talc" blown into the lung. I had 7 days in the hospital, no icu, semi private room, $85K at the last count. I am under Medicare with a UPS supplemental and I paid out of pocket about $1200.
 

stevetheupsguy

sʇǝʌǝʇɥǝndsƃnʎ
There's a form of medicaid that pays or helps pay for situations like this. I got shot in the neck when I was 21 years old and I believe it was disaster medicaid or something along those lines. I would contact the nearest welfare office and see if they can help you out; If not the whole bill but maybe a substantial part of the bill. Maybe someone in the hospital billing dept. could put you in touch with the right people. Good luck and prayers for your wife going up as we speak.
 

HBGPreloader

Well-Known Member
When your coverage kicks in depends on your contract. Since you're a new hire, I'm not sure how it would work, but you should receive family coverage once you hit a certain amount of time served.
Your "out-of-pocket" expense would depend on the plan you choose and your choice of medial facility. Some hospitals participate in some insurance programs while others are considered "out-of-network".
As for the bill now, call the hospital and start asking about charity care or similar programs to get help with the bills. Don't be afraid to ask questions and question answers. and don't be surprised if you get a lot of run-around either.
Once you jump through all the hoops and get your final bill(s), try to negotiate for a lower amount or settlement - if you have the cash available.
If you don't have the cash to settle, set up a monthly payment program in an amount of what you can afford. Even if it's $5, they really can't do anything to you as long as you show a willingness to pay (assuming the laws haven't changed in recent years).

Checkers
 

gandydancer

Well-Known Member
newguy1, so sorry to hear about your wife. I hope things work out for you both.

I gather you know that under the '08 contract you get no health insurance for a year and no dependent coverage for 18 months. Thanks, everyone who voted for it.

There is no one "UPS Insurance", although when you qualify for coverage you may have to take or you will be offered the UPS Health Insurance Plan, depending on where you work. More typically you get your health insurance through the Union, which is paid a capitation by UPS and in turn offers you a selection of plans -- in my case Kaiser and a Blue Cross plan.

I was in the hospital for several weeks in '07 with kidney failure and a near-coma from undiagnosed and out-of-control diabetes and the hospital bill alone was over $235k, plus there were doctor's bills and tests. I paid my $100 annual deductable and a few hundred for some diabetes education that wasn't covered, and that's it. The main financial impact was was a potential future one -- the dent in my $1 million lifetime maximum benefit.

As an uninsured, if you can pay you really get screwed by the medical list prices which are jacked up to offset payer-negotiated discounts. I'm sure you have more pressing things on your mind, but for anyone interested in this subject the podcasts at http://www.econtalk.org/archives/health/ are a good thing to listen to at work.

Anyway, hospitals are used to not collecting much from the uninsured, and their pricing is such a joke that you ought feel under no obligation to pay in full what they nominally ask. Unlike some others on this thread I have no specific suggestions as to exactly how you can get out from under. But know what your attitude should be.
 
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