Here’s the anonymous reader comment. We need more details:
Any other Mission employees gotten notice that they have to pay back thousands of dollars spent with the “Benny” card? Apparently HR and Wells Fargo have not communicated well, and a year later, I get a call that those “Benny” dollars will be taken out of my paycheck-to the tune of four hundred per month. Wells Fargo blames HR, and HR is sending out payroll deduction forms.
11 Comments
Yes! This is unbelievable-I used the Benny card over a year ago, at my docot’s office and for medicine. A YEAR LATER I have to repay the money! This surely can’t be legal. HR won’t even return my call because they are getting so many complaints they can’t handle. And how does HR have my medical information? What do they have access to? No one will even tell me which bill I am supposed to pay back. I’m supposed to repay money just because they tell me I owe it! This is crazy! HR screwed up, now they want employees to make up the difference. This is dishonest and wrong. Why would you treat employees this way if you value them? Wrong, just wrong. I will quit before I pay this back to MIssion HR.
Dear Wowser…. you need to check your facts. Mari a Rolloff, under the greedy piss poor leadership of JD and the BOD, did in fact make the Benny card program mandatory. It had been set up before but was NOT mandatory! This change lined the pockets of Mission! I would like to see some further investigation on this and would wecome having someone try to prove this fact wrong!
And I personally have never had a physicians office ask for a "deposit." However, I can understand why some physician offices may have had to change their billing practices during the time of this horrendous "benny card" debacle. They deserved to be paid for their service and unfortunately they could not get big ole Mission to change this incredibly crappy system so they were forced to try different tactics to keep their office’s financially solvent. I am not certain if that is what was happening but given the fact that we know the claims were consistenly denied, and the paperwork was "lost" over and over again, I would not be surprised if this was the only way for our physicians to keep their offices fincially solvent. OH wait…..do you think that JD and his toxic team would have any reasons to put our local physicians practices in financial straights????? Would that have enable JD to BUY thier praactices at a mu ch LOWER cost????? Oh I can just see the articles now…..JD and MIssion SAVE the local physician group, (insert physician group name here) and have incorporated them into the new Mission Medical Associates! HOW CONVENIENT!!!
Wake up people! We need to continue to press this story and find out all the underhanded schemes and backroom deals that cost us our hsopital!
FYI, the Benny Card switch was happening before Maria Roloff even came to Mission. Whatever HR did, at least Cigna is easier to deal with. It’s the doctor’s offices that make you pay a ‘deposit’ while they file your insurance that bug me…
My use of the "benny" card was satisfactory, however, many of my coworkers had enormous difficulty. They certainly understood how to use the card and were careful to keep their paperwork in order but often had to submit the same paperwork up to three different times even though the expenditure had been approved and the paperwork on it faxed to Wells-Fargo repeatedly. This problem was brought to the attention of HR over and over.
MSR’s post is interesting. There is nothing in the original post to lead one to believe that the benefit card had been used incorrectly, fraudulently, or at "Best Buy." Where did that assumption come from?
As pointed out by others, the benefit card could only be used for certain medical expenses. I think everyone understood the use of the benefit card – regardless of their level of education. It just didn’t work well for many people and it seemed to me that the people who had the most trouble with it were the ones who used it most. I very well might be wrong in that perception but the people who had the most trouble seemed to me to be the ones with chronic health problems and heavy usage of physician visits, medications, etc.
The real zinger of the benefit card is that expenditures that were approved were later denied or Wells-Fargo continuously lost paperwork for submitted expenses.
Once again I will ask the question. Is there not a single reporter in this town who cares enough to shine the light on what has been going on inside of Mission Hospital? This "Benny Card" debacle is but ONE MORE example of how this communities health care workers have been screwed by JD and his managing toxic dump team! Come on somebody step up to the plate! By now you could have a enough of a story to make a great book…."Medical Melt Down in the Mountains – a story of how one man took a hospital from great to shitty!"
MSR, or should I say, Mission Spin Rep! Your statement is untrue and irresponsible, about MH employees buying electrical products with their Benny Card. Typical Mission tactic to divert attention from all your failures: spread lies through your spin machine. Tis so basic, phych 101, you all really are just one trick ponies up on the Mez. For those Ashevegas readers not familiar with the Benny Card, it is a benefit card. Our government has tossed around this idea for health insurance as well. While the concept was sound, the execution was dismal. As an employee, you and your employer contribute to a health care savings account . It is on a Benny Visa. You can only purchase medical procedures or health care needs with it. It would be virtually impossible to swipe your card at Best Buy (MSR aka Idiot). The terminals were only set up for Medical. The problem with it, was you were declined your monies every-time you tried to use it. So you would pay for the procedure out of pocket and submit a manual reimbursement. This was a laborious process, often ending in being declined again, after you had expounded countless hours and resources trying to be reimbursed. Wells Fargo had not a clue what was going on. They would layer you with insurance speak, and just wear you down enough, that you would finally give up. Meanwhile, your money was accruing interest for Mission I am sure. Mission HRD was notoriously inept with this program. It was a failure. A good idea gone bad. The Mission Employees deserve better, and MSR, you represent the culture that have treated them poorly for too long. Please get on the bus with JD, BA, MR, KS, FF and take your stench with you.
The Benny card transactions I did and the others that I’ve heard of were for doctor visits, ER visits, medical equipment, and prescriptions. In some cases, Wells Fargo even authorized purchases in advance. I don’t think my coworkers are as dull as MSR judges them to be. This isn’t about illegal use of the health care account, it’s about poor communication between Mission adminstration and the third party administrator.
Using the Benny card shouldn’t be too complicated. Only certain transactions are eligible: you submit receipts to Wells Fargo, the administrator, to justify using the card. However, Wells Fargo sent a "First and Final" audit ONE YEAR LATER! They deny receipt of the original documentation that I submitted. HR tells me I have to repay because I didn’t submit the documentation before the March deadline. Some people bought medical equipment, which Mission and Wells Farog had allowed in the previous year and earlier in 2008, but they were told that there had been miscommunication between the administrator and HR, so their purchases were disqualified.
I am happy to hear that MSR hasn’t had trouble with the Benny card. I’m wanting to hear if others have received these delayed audits and been instructed to repay MEDICAL expenses that were incorrectly administered by Wells Fargo.
Original Anon
Dear MSR,
If the leadership at Mission had thought it through they would have realized the stupidity of giving out a "credit card" and expecting everyone to understand how and when to use it. There are some people at Mission who are barely able to read and write. These folks deserve a job and health care just as much as the arrogant butt holes that are leading Mission into the toilet! When the decision was made to make the use of the "Benny Card" system mandatory it WAS to pad the pockets of Mission! If that were not true then explain why Mission fell into the red by more than FIVE MILLION dollars when they ALLOWED the employees to go back onto a traditional health care plan???? And you have the audacity to judge others as liable and call them crooks! Get real!!! While the plan worked for some during the "pilot" period it was the almighty dollar that delighted little JD and made him issue a command that everyone must use the system. There is no defense for the lack of planning, vision, or oversight associated with the abysmal "Benny card" system! OH and by the way…..Marie Rolloff needs to be fired from THIS JOB TOO!!! Maybe JD can hire her again for his next healthcare disaster! God bless and be with the poor people who are subjected to that man and his piss poor leadership skills!
The ignorance and deceit of some of my fellow Mission employees is staggering! The Benny card is not specific to Mission Hospital, it is used throughout the country for similar purposes. It worked well based on my experiences. No, you can NOT use the money in your HSA for purchases of electronic equipment at Best Buy. That would be fraud, and you COULD go to prison for it. Looks like Mission is giving you a chance to avoid that, and you are complaining!! Unbelievable…
There is not enough room in cyber space to explain what an abject failure the Benny card was. Lets just put it this way: this was prime example as to how Joe Damore failed miserably, and his HR department was neither human or a resource. Two giant top heavy bureaucratic systems (Mission and Wells Fargo) hell bent on making money, while denying resources to patients and employees. To answer your question Anonymous, yes there are those of us who still are trying to navigate the maze of ineptness that Missions HR and the Benny Program is. It borders on illegal and it is certainly immoral what that program has inflicted on the hard working people of Mission.
As a good reporter, you should find out what the Benny Card is, It sounds like your anonymous commenter didn’t understand what it was or how it worked. You’re going to lose your reporter’s cred if you float these rumors/claims without getting background. Did you check with Mission HR?