After what I think was a three-month wait, I finally qualified for health insurance a couple months ago. Their plan, understandable as it is because I think they agree that the new client wants to get enrolled as soon as possible, is to just give the person an agency but give him a month to return the form mailed to him allowing him to change it to one he really wants -- which is what I did. I was assigned Metropolitan Health Partners but wanted Medica.
In the meantime, however, I got sent -- or was wooed by -- MHP material. First was their handbook. Next was their card. It's as if they were saying, "Welcome! It's so nice to have you as a client!! We will take care of you, and we will never hurt you, never!!" Comparing them to the same material from Medica makes explicit a the stark difference. These guys from MHP didn't have the glossy cover page material or the colorful drawings and graphic branding that they paid some high-powered agency beaucoup bucks to make them look all warm and inviting. MHP used one color to dress up their handbook and network listings -- magenta or vermillion, I'm not sure what exact shade of red it was. And they put on their front covers photos, small photos, of ordinary Minnesotans like you and me, probably shot by some guy who just graduated from Anoka-Ramsey Community College.
But this can-do spirit, this forging ahead and putting their best foot forward, them getting up before the rest of the health insurance agencies, scrounging up the best ill-fitting clothes they have in their closet and ironing them so that they look as presentable as possible -- all of that I sense from reading through their regulations and the clinics that network with them. That aura, combined with the fact that I had never heard of MHP before I began acquainting myself with the rules of getting insurance through the state, indicates an underdog status that tugs at my Piscean heartstrings. Maybe they will outwork Medica and Blue Cross Blue Shield and HealthPartners and put the customer first. Maybe they will deserve all the kickback money they'll get for attending to my needs while the other behemoths ensure their CEO's make billions and billions of dollars ripping off the state's poor and disadvantaged. Yes you can, MHP, yes you can!!!
But maybe they can't. I feel bad about abandoning MHP, but I'm not going to switch back. I think I read in U.S. News & World Report that the best Medicaid program in the state (and the choices are not good on a nationwide, objective level) is Medica. Besides, I changed it once, so I can't change it again, can I?
So Medica it is. Bad thing is, even though the state has told me they are aware of the change, Medica has yet to give me info or even a member card. Geez, MHP gave them to me two weeks after I got enrolled. Yes, they were pre-selected, but so what? Medica, get off your duffs and service me!
Have I made a mistake?
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