Ashe Center, SHIP are painfully incompetent

Miranda is a first-year graduate student in electrical
engineering.

By Mark Miranda

No one expects to get seriously injured, but it happens. In
fact, it happened to my fiancée over a year ago when she
injured her back in a sledding accident. Ever since then
we’ve been in a constant battle with Student Health Insurance
Plan administrators and the doctors at the Arthur Ashe Student
Health and Wellness Center.

The level of incompetence displayed by SHIP’s
administrators and Ashe Center employees in my dealings with them
is unparalleled. They have caused serious and unacceptable delays
in attaining medical treatment for my fiancée to the point
that instead of being a help, they are a barrier to her
recovery.

The problem lies in the plan’s managed care system that
creates multiple layers of administrative work between patients and
treatment. Because the Ashe Center does not handle serious injury
treatment, when you require services outside their parameters, your
doctor will have to refer you to the UCLA Medical Center. This may
seem simple enough, as it’s just across the street. However,
the referral must also be approved by SHIP and the doctor must be a
member of SHIP ““ and it is here that the system breaks
down.

Until recently, the SHIP administrators at the Ashe center only
had a listing of participating doctors from 1998 ““ four years
out of date! For five months now, my fiancée has been unable
to get treatment at the Medical Center. This is because the SHIP
administrators would not approve referrals to a Medical Center
doctor who became a member of SHIP six months ago ““ so he is
not listed in the 1998 book!

If this isn’t appalling enough, the SHIP administrators
continue to refuse to approve the referral, insisting the doctor is
unlisted ““ in spite of receiving the information that our
doctor is indeed a current member of SHIP. They refused to go
through the trouble of getting a new book ““ or even making a
few phone calls to double check, even after admitting their own
book was out of date.

This cycle of ineptitude has been going on for months. When we
talk to the doctor at the Ashe Center, he writes a referral to the
doctor at the Medical Center, the insurance company then denies
referral and our treatment is refused.

The frustration and pain is frequently so great that my
fiancée breaks down in tears. Finally, a couple of days ago
she made yet another phone call to the SHIP administrators and they
have a new and current book of doctors who are covered by SHIP. Not
surprisingly ““ at least to us ““ the doctor we have been
trying to see for months is fully covered by SHIP!

We were right all along, but the SHIP administrators were too
lazy to do their job. Unfortunately, this resulted in months of
unnecessary physical and emotional agony for my loved one.

I’ve learned that her experience is not unique. At least
three other people I’ve spoken with have had similar
experiences with SHIP and the Ashe Center. It is unacceptable that
UCLA students should have such poor insurance, and yet be right
next door to the Medical Center, arguably the best medical
treatment facility on the West Coast.

I think it’s time for us to drop SHIP as our provider and
go with a nationally established health insurance company.
I’m sure there are plenty of others out there who would jump
at the opportunity to insure over 30,000 mostly healthy college
students.