In today's mail a letter came for me from the hospital where I had worked seven years and just recently resigned. It detailed my COBRA benefits under federal law and the portability for 18 months of dental and health insurance if an individual had that coverage before termination of employment--- the premiums still being paid by me, just not deducted from my paycheck as when I was employed by the company.
I had been concerned about not having continuous dental insurance coverage, as I had missed the "window" available to sign up for the dental plan of the school I now work for. So, the paperwork that came today was a very welcome thing.
In thinking about COBRA and what it means to have that all-important health insurance, I was reminded of what happened to Carol Nelson, a former custodian for Cranfills Gap Texas Independent School District. Carol and Benny Nelson are long-time residents of Cranfills Gap, Texas--- salt of the earth and plain country folk who raised their children there and were proud to be from the small town of Cranfillls Gap.
Benny worked many years with my sister, Sue Wooten Lee, and her husband, Wade Lee, now deceased. Wade and Sue ran cattle on several Cranfills Gap places and did custom farming or whatever needed doing around the Gap, Meridian, Hamilton or any part of Bosque County. Wade also was foreman for some of the big cattle ranches in that country. Wade could do just about anything. Benny was one of Wade's friends, a great co-worker, and someone honest, reliable, and a good citizen of the town, as are most of the folks in and around Cranfills Gap, especially the older bunch.
Carol was a custodian at Cranfills Gap Independent School District. As I understand it, Carol was told--- just before Christmas, December, 2006-- by Superintendent Carla Sigler that Sigler was cutting Carol's hours, that she was now considered a part-time employee and would not be eligible for health insurance benefits through the school. In January, 2007, Superintendent Carla Sigler fired Carol Nelson and had her fill out all her COBRA paperwork, so under federal law, Carol and her family could still receive their previous health benefits.
Carol's automatic payment for her health insurance was deducted as usual from her last paycheck in 2007 from Cranfills Gap ISD. Carol was not concerned about not having health insurance for her family, as she had filled out all the proper forms and paperwork and submitted them within the proper time time frame required by law to still have coverage under COBRA for the next eighteen months.
Carol took her daughter to the doctor not long after. The nurse told a disbelieving Carol that she no longer had health insurance coverage for her and her family.
Carol was astounded to discover that Superintendent Carla Sigler had BACKDATED Carol's insurance paperwork --I believe the COBRA paperwork--and falsified it to show a cancellation date of the insurance in November, 2006, rather than the actual termination date of January, 2007. Remember, now, the insurance premiums had been regularly deducted from Carol's paychecks, even from her very last one in 2007...but Carol had no insurance coverage!
Without filing a lawsuit to correct the situation, Carol, Benny, and their children had no health insurance, even though they had paid for it and, to thier knowledge, complied with the law under COBRA. I'm not aware that the Nelsons ever did file a lawsuit. I believe they joined the ranks of the many other uninsured human beings in America.
I know you are wondering what in the world would make someone do something as lowdown and dirty as what was done to Carol and her family. Apparently, Carol was perceived as an enemy by Carla Sigler, and that meant you were fair game for whatever punishment and retaliation Carla Sigler felt like dreaming up for you.
What was maliciously done to Carol Nelson, her husband, and her children was nothing out of the ordinary for Carla Sigler if she wanted payback for any perceived slight. The retaliatation against Carol Nelson was was just one of a long line of vindictive injustices by Carla Sigler and her friends and supporters on the Cranfills Gap school board.
Carla Sigler did not just want to hurt you, she wanted to destroy you, if you did anything that seemed to not support her. Woe to anyone who purposely or unintentionally got on Carla Sigler's bad side. You could become an enemy by association, just by speaking to someone you had known and been friends with for years, but-- perhaps unknown to you--- was considered an enemy by Carla Sigler. Malicious retaliation and despicable dirty tricks were the name of Carla Sigler's game---- the lower-down and the dirtier, the better Carla liked it.
Carla Sigler missed her calling--she would have made a great politician---- perhaps Karl Rove's assistant.....or did Carla Sigler write the book Karl Rove plays by???? That's a question to which we will probably never know the answer.
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