The health insurance at Kroger has been set up in such a way that both the insurance company and Kroger's self-insured worker's comp plan are able to deny any and all pain related claims simply by having MED-1000 state that doctor's bills will not be paid because the "accident" was caused by the job at Kroger. After submitting the claim to Kroger HR who never returns phone calls, months later you receive a certified letter stating the claim is denied because you didn't notify your supervisor, you didn't fill out the proper paperwork in a timely fashion and you didn't take a drug test. I am just one of several people who I worked with at Kroger in this situation. We didn't have any accidents of any kind but we all experienced various types of normal, everyday living pain.

I personally asked my immediate supervisor if anybody had experienced the type of pain I was experiencing and was told no. I thought maybe I had arthritis, peripheral artery disease (PAD) or neuropathy and had better go see a Dr. ASAP to try and nip it in the bud. I called the insurance company, MED-1000, to verify I could see the Dr. I wanted to see and was told yes. I asked my supervisor for 3 different days off so I could see the Dr. about my pain and was given the days off. The supervisor never once said I needed to fill out any special worker's comp forms nor did she ask me to take a drug test. Not long after the Dr's. visits, diagnosis and treatment I received statements from MED-1000 denying my claims because they stated, my problem was caused by the job at Kroger. My Dr. didn't know what was causing my problem so I don't know how the insurance company knew. Other co-workers later told me this had happened to them also for different problems like foot and hip pain. None of us had had any accidents and just figured it was age catching up with us. One of my co-workers even asked the store manager for the day off because his foot hurt so much and was told not to come back until he had a Dr's. note. Yet, despite the fact it was the store manager's orders to go to the Dr., his claim was denied.

We were all denied for reasons we couldn't possibly know about from any of the information they supplied at hiring time and were never told when we asked our supervisors/managers. Conveniently for Kroger, it's impossible to file a complaint with the TX Board of Insurance because Kroger is self-insured and the Board has no jurisdiction over self-insured companies. Filing an appeal with Kroger simply gets you more silence for several months and another denial letter with the same contrived claims which had supposedly been reviewed by some TX Kroger board at the Dep. of Labor. If this board in fact asked my former supervisor if I had notified her of my problem and she said no, she is flat out lying as are the supervisors of my former co-workers.

If you're thinking about taking a job a Kroger I recommend that you stay as far away from them as possible. If you're forced by life circumstances to take a job at Kroger, whatever you do, if you experience ANY type of pain make absolutely sure that you notify your supervisor, their manager, the store manager and the president (his email address is on the employee website) in writing before going to the Dr. Demand that they supply you with the necessary paperwork to file with HR and ask if you are required to take a drug test. If they say no, get that in writing AND send a copy to HR and the president. Let's end this scam NOW!