This should not happen with health insurance....but it does!

Mavericksmom

If there is any doubt that our healthcare needs fixing, one only needs to deal with the medical insurance!

I have had two ridiculous issues involving my insurance in the past two weeks. First, I went to a very reputable, well respected hospital in NJ for a very simple procedure, only local anesthesia required. I went to the out patient area and signed in. I was then called to register. The person behind the counter insisted that I had Medicare Advantage through AARP in addition to my Medicare Advantage plan through my husband's retirement benefits. I DO NOT! Most everyone knows you can't have two Medicare Advantage plans, so why wasn't that a red flag? I politely told her I did not have that coverage, I only have the coverage from the card I gave her. She then asked for my AARP card. When I told her I didn't have a card for AARP MA because I DO NOT HAVE THAT INSURANCE, she replied with "I don't know why they didn't send a card to you!" I said again, "Because I don't have that insurance!"

What part of I don't have that insurance, didn't she understand? We went round and round. She said "Oh, I will just put down that you forgot your card!" I told her no, I didn't forget my card I didn't have AARP insurance! She said, "Well, Karen verified it and she has worked here for 30 years and she never makes a mistake!" I told her she did this time! I finally called my insurance company right in front of her and the representative said not to worry, that the hospital will try to bill AARP and will get denied, then they will bill my insurance!

It is their loss, because they missed out on an instant $250 co-pay! I will still have to pay that, but I now need to wait for a bill. Not worrying that it is sitting in my banking account, until they get their act together!

Then today in the mail I got a second bill for $1.37 for the copy of my procedure report! I received one last week and paid it on line the same day. My bank notified me it was withdrawn. I called just to be sure they don't send it to a collection agency. They said it was marked as paid and must have crossed in the mail. Of course that wasn't true, but I thanked him and wrote his name and what he said to me as well as the date and time, on the bill. It is less than $2 and for what the procedure cost, you would think the one page report would be free!

And they wonder why health care is such a mess!

AliceBastable

Wow, that's insane. I had a PET scan in April, and got surprised with a $900+ copay when I got to the hospital. Now we keep getting bills for odd amounts with no explanation. When I look on the billing history on MyChart, sometimes it shows amounts due, and other times overpayments. And none of the hospital or doctor amounts match the insurance amounts. I have a $2500 out of pocket limit, and sometimes the insurance statements say I've reached it, sometimes they say my procedure amounts don't count towards that limit, and other times it shows overpayment. But apparently not the same overpayment or amount due.

My gift to my husband last year was for him to handle all the financial aspects of my surgeries and treatments. He wanted to do more than provide transportation and moral support, so I just started handing him all the bills and insurance statements. 😄 I'm so happy to make him feel useful!

Mavericksmom

Way to go Alice! I love it! You have enough to think about without worrying about the bills!

Insurance is maddening! I haven’t gotten one bill from my cancer specialist appointments for 2019. I paid the ones from 2018. It’s been seven months since my surgery. You would think the bills would come in a reasonable time! I started writing down all my appointments and what my co-pay should be. I just hope they don’t expect me to pay them all at once

mittmott

This isn't the insurance that messed up, it's the hospital..

Mavericksmom

Sorry mittmott, I will delete!

AliceBastable

It's the insurance that makes it so damn complicated, which is what leads to confusion and errors on everyone's part.