In the end though, if I didn't drive out with my parents today, I would probably not have called AARP to cancel my dad's supplement plan.
If you're unfamiliar with how Medicare works, it covers most of your medical bills (80-90%). Therefore you are encouraged to pay for a supplement plan to cover any remaining costs that Medicare doesn't cover. AARP in partnership with UnitedHealthcare has such a plan - my dad currently pays $215/month to have this "emergency" insurance. That's $2,500 getting drained from my dad's social security every year - that means my dad gets 49% of his social security benefits every year.
After calling the # located at the back of my dad's AARP card, they have to transfer me to UnitedHealthcare and the representative Ariana helps me through the process. She puts me on hold to find out if I can get reimbursed for the payment that was taken from my dad's checking account yesterday 2/5/2013.
The answer is simply "NO"
Confused, upset and annoyed, I let it be and allowed her to finish cancelling my dad's account. After taking care of other things, I realize that I'm still bothered with the refusal to refund my dad's payment despite only a day has passed by.
So I call AARP again and give Ben (service rep) the details of what happened. He advises that I immediately ask for a supervisor once he transfers me to UnitedHealthcare.
I do what Ben says, and the new UnitedHealthcare rep: Kaye runs me through the standard protocol then asks why I'm seeking a supervisor. She informs me that the supervisor has already left for the evening but she will look into my dad's account and figure things out.
Kaye cancelled my dad's supplement plan 11/30/2012 - the day before my dad's Medicare went active. Now my dad will get reimbursed over $500.
I didn't track how much time I spent on the phone, but man... for $500 I'll go through that any day.
It's probably protocol that customer service reps deny refunding a person unless they are persistent.
Sigh....................
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