Bait & Switch

So I lost my job [layoff] and was without health insurance. Due to my layoff/unemployment status, my health insurance went from a little over $100 per month through my employer to over $500 per month and I simply couldn’t afford that. To my surprise and disappointment, I had fallen very ill such that I had to go to a specialist to get an MRI which cost close to $2,000 out of pocket [how the f*** am I gonna pay for this?]. I was REALLY upset about it and like any normal person, I expressed my concern on Facebook. [lol]

Once I shared my grief about not having insurance [this was before Obama care], I got a message from a guy named Tim that I had gone out with a few months back, but lost touch [no sparks, but no hard feelings either]. He shared that his company offered affordable health insurance plans and recommended that I schedule an appointment to meet with him to discuss, which I did.

I drove to Tim’s office during the lunch rush [yay traffic! shoot me now], as my appointment was for 12:30pm. He worked downtown so there was absolutely NO parking which meant I had to valet park at a nearby garage. [Sh**! I’m unemployed and on a fixed income. I can’t blow my whole unemployment check on valet parking dude!!! lol].

I arrived to the appointment a little early and Tim escorted me to the conference room. We had brief small talk and whatnot, but I wanted to get right down to business to expedite getting started with the paperwork process and I also wanted to get the heck out of the city before rush hour traffic.

Tim started asking me about my life insurance policy and then shared the types of programs his company offered. I had a confused look on my face because I didn’t understand why ~~the hell~~ he was talking to me about life insurance when the purpose of the meeting was to discuss health insurance options.

I asked him to hold on for a minute so that I could check my phone…I wanted to re-read our email exchange and the meeting request to make sure I wasn’t ~~trippin~~ mistaken about our meeting. As I thought, our meeting title read “Health Insurance Meeting”.

Tim went on and on about the life insurance policies that his company offered and went so far as to hand me some literature on both term and universal life policies. [Ummmmmm, yeah! Kinda not here for this at all sir.] I explained to Tim that I already had life insurance and would prefer to talk about health insurance. He said “Oh that? Here you go!” and slid me a sheet of paper.

Him: Go to this website here, check out our plans, and contact my colleague Hillary for more information. Her phone number is on the page.

THIS DATE MEETING IS OVER!

I. WAS. DONE! Absolutely, positively, 1,000% LIVID…..started seeing red.

Me: You cannot be serious. I did not just drive all the way out here and pay to valet park my car just for you to give me damn piece of paper with a 45-character link on it. You could’ve just emailed me!

Him: I wanted to see you.

Me: You wanted to see me????? Well this is not the way to do it at all. I came here to specifically talk about health insurance…HEALTH INSURANCE and you knew that. You know my situation with me being laid off, on a fixed income, and the need to obtain insurance, especially since I got sick few weeks ago.
Him: I’m sorry.
Me: Not only did you waste my time, I wasted my gas, and $15 parking my car.
Him: I’m sorry. Let me make it up to you.
Me: I’d like to be reimbursed for my parking.
Him: Are you serious?
Me: Dead serious.