Today I spent the majority of my morning, and part of my afternoon, filing official appeals for insurance decisions and even filing a complaint with the Maryland Attorney General over a dispute I continue to have with my insurance company.
One would think that having two medical insurances would be a blessing - everything should be paid for, right? Wrong. When you have two insurances, each will claim that the other should be paying your bill, neither will pay, and the provider will instead bill you! From Oct. 2011 - Dec. 31, 2012 United Health Care was my primary insurance and Medicare was secondary. My UHC policy was through the company I was working for. By Federal law, because I was working medicare had to be secondary, yet for some reason UHC kept getting confused and denying claims because they thought Medicare was primary. I disputed many issues last year and got most resolved, but not all. Today I spent time disputing over $2,000 in services that I needed last year and my insurance company (UHC) refuses to pay for because Medicare was not billed first.
This got my husband and I wondering, how many other people get completely screwed by "the system"? The biggest concern is that one of my insurances is Medicare (due to my disability). Which means that other people, other disabled individuals and of course senior citizens, if they also have another form of insurance, are probably also getting bills they should not be getting. How many of them know their rights? How many of them know how to fight the insurance companies? Are there people out there to help them? (And if there are, can they help me?!) This process is very confusing and frustrating. I'm sure there are plenty of people who just give up and pay the bill. Or worse, they don't because they don't have the money... and then the provider calls a collection agency... and then the person's credit score tanks... and then...
And now my insurance has changed again since I am no longer in a salaried position and receive no benefits. But I still have two insurances (Medicare primary and United Healthcare secondary - my husband's policy). Something tells me this year will be equally frustrating. Prayers appreciated.
One would think that having two medical insurances would be a blessing - everything should be paid for, right? Wrong. When you have two insurances, each will claim that the other should be paying your bill, neither will pay, and the provider will instead bill you! From Oct. 2011 - Dec. 31, 2012 United Health Care was my primary insurance and Medicare was secondary. My UHC policy was through the company I was working for. By Federal law, because I was working medicare had to be secondary, yet for some reason UHC kept getting confused and denying claims because they thought Medicare was primary. I disputed many issues last year and got most resolved, but not all. Today I spent time disputing over $2,000 in services that I needed last year and my insurance company (UHC) refuses to pay for because Medicare was not billed first.
This got my husband and I wondering, how many other people get completely screwed by "the system"? The biggest concern is that one of my insurances is Medicare (due to my disability). Which means that other people, other disabled individuals and of course senior citizens, if they also have another form of insurance, are probably also getting bills they should not be getting. How many of them know their rights? How many of them know how to fight the insurance companies? Are there people out there to help them? (And if there are, can they help me?!) This process is very confusing and frustrating. I'm sure there are plenty of people who just give up and pay the bill. Or worse, they don't because they don't have the money... and then the provider calls a collection agency... and then the person's credit score tanks... and then...
And now my insurance has changed again since I am no longer in a salaried position and receive no benefits. But I still have two insurances (Medicare primary and United Healthcare secondary - my husband's policy). Something tells me this year will be equally frustrating. Prayers appreciated.
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