Be Heard!

Be Heard!  Art Card by Lynne Dee

 I am not one who regularly calls the offices of politicians or writes to journalists but I feel it is my duty to get involved when I see a wrongdoing affect so many, including me.

The letter arrived in the mail recently. Before I even opened the envelope I knew it couldn’t be good news. The sender was Anthem, my health insurance carrier. Anthem inherited me a few years ago when they took over Blue Cross of California.

With trepidation I opened the letter. It was worse than I ever imagined. Not that two increases within a 7-month period were bad enough, but this notice of change was yet even worse. I was being notified, along with thousands of others, that Anthem would no longer be providing automatic credit card payments for premiums. But do not stop there. They decided, after careful consideration, that if you still insisted on paying for premiums with a credit card, you could only do so by calling their number, waiting to be connected to a live person, which is no easy feat, and then be charged an additional $15.00 which they graciously are calling a “convenience” fee.

What a slap in the face!

I should include here that Anthem went on to say that they welcome you to go to their web site and sign up for electronic debit from your checking account monthly. How kind of them.

I re-read the letter several times to absorb this. Something didn’t feel right about this “convenience” fee. I knew from years ago when I tried to pay a dentist visit with my then American Express card, the office told me that if I used my AE card, I would have to pay an added fee. I didn’t want that. I gave them my Visa card instead. That they said would not incur an extra fee from them. But I did call A.E. after that. I explained what I was told by the Dentist office. They explained that it is not allowed. When a merchant signs up with them, they agree not to charge a surcharge of any kind. This dentist was breaking the agreement. I fired this dentist by never going back for their services.

So here I am in a similar situation. The only difference is that unlike the dentist, they don’t want to accept any credit cards and are discouraging that use by slapping on a surcharge of $15. I also cannot change health carriers as easy as changing dentists. And they know it.

In David Lazarus’ June 14^th LA Times Business section article about Anthem’s decision to charge a convenience fee when a credit card is used to pay for premiums, he reported that Anthem denies it is breaking the “surcharge rule”.  For those who don’t know, California Civil Code 1748.1 states “no retailer in any sales, service or lease transaction with a consumer may impose a surcharge on a cardholder who elects to use a credit card in lieu of payment by cash, check or similar means”. I recommend googling CA Civil Code 1748 for more info.

So there it is. Anthem thinks that they can just re-name the “fee” that is being added on to the premium and this will fool everyone. I hope our State Attorney is not fooled. According to Lazarus, the California Attorney General’s office is looking into whether Anthem may be violating state law.

We only have until August 1 when then the new payment system kicks in. For now, I am not signing up at their web site per their invitation. Thank you but no thank you.

FYI: The CA State Assembly House has passed the bill AB52. The California Senate will be voting on the bill AB52 in the upcoming weeks that would give our CA Health Insurance Commissioner some power to regulate the unfair increases in rates on our premiums. Yes, let’s not forget that battle is still on.