Thread regarding Chevron Corp. layoffs

At 3qdc:

I received my SEVERANCE AGREEMENT on 4/26 and emailed it back per the instructions in the accompanying letter. The next day I received this email:

We have received your signed release waiver. Your severance payment will be processed in the first available pay period.

Thank you,

Employee Relations

I'm waiting on the cobra package from adp, meanwhile, today is my first day without insurance. I tried to log on to my express scripts account and received an error message. They sure are quick terminating your coverage! Like I said before, they have known my last day was February 29 since last October and my last day on payroll was April 15. I would have signed the severance agreement on February 29th if I could have. But I had to wait till they sent it to me and the cobra package being sent is tied into their receiving it. I'm sure I won't get it during the period I can rescind the severance agreement, so the wait will continue. ADP told me once I received it, I can enroll online, I just need the cobra ID that comes with the letter. But why the hell can't I just get it now and get enrolled, all this waiting for snail mail? Meanwhile, no prescription refills or doctors appointments for me, I was only at chevron less than five years so my severance will be a drop in the bucket after taxes. My FSA debit card also no longer works and won't till I cobra my FSA which I plan on doing. Never had this kind of delay in the past getting on cobra, went right from group policy to cobra, and the assumption that i can afford to pay out of pocket for all my medical expenses in the interim is really bothersome ... if I had access to my FSA maybe but the plug is pulled on that too. I'm looking for another job and squeaking by. Unemployment covers my mortgage payment and real estate taxes, the rest is coming from what I've managed to save or sell in the meantime. Chevron is like a bad dream I have to keep reliving.

COBRA elections must be made within 60 days of termination date. It takes a while to receive the paperwork, you should respond immediately via certified mail. As long as you meet the deadline, COBRA is retroactive to your first day without Chevron insurance, so save receipts. This is the law. It will be a hassle to get them paid off, as I am experiencing, but I hope to eventually settle.

My past experience with COBRA is that they are looking for any excuse to drop you. A late payment, an incorrect payment, and bingo, you are dropped. Happened to me once, I wrote check for $564.24, whereas the actual amount due was $564.42, and I was dropped, with no recourse.

@3kpc, you said that you signed and EMAILED it back? That might be the problem. I hope you also placed the signed Cobra papers in the US Mail. Chevron HR is so anal about sending or receiving anything by email. Check on this again. In any case, you received your Cobra papers on April 26 (11 days after your termination date). That means ADP Cobra Services has you set up in the system. I hope you followed up by placing your first and second month's premium payment in the US Mail to them. If so, be patient. Check your ADP Cobra online account for the receipt of payment. Follow up and be patient.

@3kpc, does your state have an insurance commissioner office you can call for help?

Chevron's cobra sucks. My last day on payroll was April 15. I tried to get my cobra package early because I wanted to minimize any coverage gaps. Called ADP on April 18, didn't have me in system. Called HR service center. They told me I wouldn't get a cobra package until they received my signed severance agreement because the subsidy depends on their receiving it. So SEND ME THE AGREEMENT. YOU KNEW MY LAST DAY ON PAYROLL WOULD BE 4/15 SINCE OCTOBER OF LAST YEAR. Finally get the agreement on 4/26, signed, scanned and emailed back same day. It's May 1st, no cobra package yet, no longer have any medical, dental, prescription coverage. I sent express scripts a prescription my doctor gave me over a week ago, called today, they have no record of receiving it. I had no choice other than mail because it's a schedule 2 drug, no refills, can't be faxed or called in. The full prescription cost is over $1,000. I can't afford to pay it. I tried so damm hard to minimize any coverage gap and it did no good. This medication cannot be abruptly discontinued, so if I run out before ADP can get off their lazy assand send me the damm cobra information, I'm afraid to think of what I'll experience when I run out of meds. I'll make sure I leave a letter describing how chevron and their cobra administrator are responsible in case I croak. I mean how damm hard is it to send a cobra package when you've known for six months someone was leaving. You shouldn't have to pay out of pocket waiting to get on cobra, I've been on cobra before with other employers and there was no gap.

For those left standing in the ESP whose last day on the payroll is June 13th, the medical and dental insurance (and presumably vision and everything else) are good until June 30 since the insurance is paid for the month.

Make sure you get everything done now that you need done including dental work like crowns and new glasses. Get your doctor to prescribe the max. amount of medication (mail order through Express Script = 90 days) and then call in for an exception since you will be travelling and get another 30 days.

(Note: Some maintenance drugs for high blood pressure or diabetes are really cheap at grocery stores, Walmart or Sams. As low as $4 for 30 days) even without insurance.

It is very sad that very soon most of us will have the same problems with insurance, lost savings, hyperinflation and other terrible things. No future and total collapse of everything, state government, financial system, wars on the streets, and a lot of losses

Obamacare (Incomes levels that qualify fo subsidies in your state)

https://www.healthcare.gov/lower-costs/

The lower your annual household taxable income, the higher the subsidy. If you estimate too low and your income upon filing your IRS 1040 tax return, you will need to pay back the premium difference over the months you were enrolled in your Obamacare medical plan. Still, for me and spouse, the Obamacare Healthcare Marketplace turned out to be better than expected.

#admin

Chevron Human Resources can do much better for their employees and retirees. If Chevron is providing and paying good money for services for their people, I don't know why they don't provide sufficient resources to HR to handle logistics in these higher demand times when mass layoffs are taking place. My former colleagues, I can only advise you to follow up diligently, plan your moves in advance, and know exactly what is to be expected. All the best to you all.

I was in almost the same situation. HR just do not do any thing to the employees who build up the company and got laid off. I had been continously working for the last 32 years in the oil industry. All the information I got was from the layoff package that I am eligible for COBRA and no other information. I presumed my medical and dental insurance stopped on the last day I was an employee on Dec 8, 2015. A week after Dec 8 2015 I had a toothache and went to see a dentist in the galleria area. The dentist said I had a tooth decay and need filling. That would cost me $600 plus follow up cost. I told the dentist that I was no more an employee and don't have dental insurance and cannot afford it. He prescribed me pain killer and charged me $250 for the one hour I was in his clinic.

I got my expensive private medical and dental insurance paying $650 a month for me alone starting Jan 1, 2016. In mid January I had my tooth filling done but suffered the pain for weeks. On February 28, 2016 I received a letter from HR telling me the premium of COBRA. It was a little cheaper but it was too late. I already signed up for the private health insurance and gone thru the trouble to have physical exam to qualify for this insurance. All I am saying is that the HR just dumped the former employees without giving any support. They have no responsibility towards those former employee to provide quick, relevant information.

Sounds like a nightmare. I must say that having COBRA unsubsidized coverage was not a good deal at all with United Health Care. I was not eligible for subsidized COBRA due to an early retirement two years ago, and so I paid for unsubsidized at $455 per month the first 12 months and then it went up to $512 per month. At that point I shopped for alternative coverage and got Anthem for $375 per month. The deductible is a lot higher, but the coverage is better and admin of the policy is better too. I realize that if someone is eligible for 18 months of subsidized coverage it would be tempting to stay with Chevron's healthcare, but when the eligibility runs out, I can assure you that you can do a lot better than the BS and hassels you get from Chevron and United Health Care. I wish I never would have used the unsubsidized COBRA coverage.

OP, I can attest to the processing times and time gaps between Chevron HRSC, ADP Cobra Services can be long sometimes. It seems you finally were able to get through it (you mentioned you received the insurance cards in the mail in April). I was told when I got laid off in 2015 and was going through the enrollment process with ADP, that any covered medical services I would have received before I received my membership cards, would be reimbursed to me. But, I cannot comment to you about prescription medication coverage because I didn't look into it well enough (and I didn't use it either). I tend to think that the Chevron subsidized COBRA medical is one thing and the prescription drug plan may be another. The prescription drug plan under COBRA may not be identical to the drug plan you had as a Chevron employee. All I can say is to keep all your receipts and try to go back through the steps of seeking reimbursement again. Start with sending a certified mail correspondence to Chevron HRSC in Dallas, TX. One of your previous received letters or documentation would provide you the P.O. Box address to mail it to. They are responsible to solve any legitimate problem and interface with ADP COBRA Services on your behalf. Keep meticulous notes with dates, times, people whom you spoke with, expected dates for feedback or resolution, etc. Ask Chevron HRSC to provide you the specifics of what is covered under the subsidized COBRA Drug Prescription Plan. If all else fails or you still think you are not getting the answers or help you need, go see an attorney to help recoup any legit reimbursements you are entitled to receive. Do this before the 1-year statute of limitations expires. You may also contact a free legal clinic for help. Google the term or call an area university's law college for possible tips where you can get free legal advise. Good luck to you.