The phone calls started simply enough, but, as with anything to do with health insurance today, nothing is ever really simple.

The most cost-effective insurance plan for my son is his college plan, a Cigna PPO with an ever-changing name and three different websites. Until enrolling at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, my son switched insurance every time I did, when my income and/or job changed — that’s eight times in the last 10 years. Administrative tasks related to health insurance are almost a permanent fixture on my to-do list.

The 17 calls started in July and continued into the fall.

"Why are bills still unpaid by the insurer, months after several doctor visits?" "How do we get an updated insurance card?" "Why is this year’s summary of benefits still not available?"

Having received no email or hard copy confirmation, I inquired if my son was even still enrolled in the plan. And then, the late-July panic set in: the prior year’s plan listed an ending date of July 31st. Since tuition-plus-premium wasn’t due until the end of August and was thus unpaid, I feared that my child would have no active coverage.

“What happens now?” I asked.

“The insurance will be retroactive to August 1st, once tuition is paid for the fall,” Cigna/Wellfleet/Consolidated Health Plans told me.

I wasn’t so sure about retroactive. Would “not technically active” insurance work in emergency? (I found out later that the insurer was incorrect — coverage stays active for registered students, paid-up tuition or no.)