UHC Vent

taylormarie923

I seriously hate insurance companies.  So I call my insurance company before all major tests to make sure they are covered and verify what the coverage is so that I am not surprised by a bill later on down the road.  Well, I keep receiving surprise bills.

It was my understanding that prenatal care is a one time copayment of $40 and that labs done at an external laboratory would be covered at 80%, meaning labs done in office would be covered, right?  Wrong. 

When I call and am told that first genetic screening is covered as prenatal care I would expect that the associated US and lab work would be covered.  Wrong.

It is such a freaking disaster.  I have gotten the hospital to recode some things so far so the claim gets reversed, but now I have a $300 bill that I have to call a separate location because my hospital system isn't linked to each other.  

Oh and the woman in charge of OB billing said she sees this from UHC patients ALL THE TIME.  

End vent.

sleepy33

carriet2018:

I hear you. when we got fertility testing I called everyone under the sun to make sure it was covered by insurance because if not I was going to hold off on testing. they all swore up and down it was 100% covered. we are still getting bills for it. because of the deductible which I should have known I guess, but you would think after all my calls someone would have mentioned that. Plus the testing went from Dec-Jan so once we covered our deductible for 2012 we started on 2013. double sigh.

Ugh, deductibles are sneaky bastards. Does that mean you've already met yours for 2013, though, so most of your OB and hospital charges should be small?

taylormarie923

kdevin27:

Posting as someone who deals with united healthcare on the doctors end they're terrible. They're like robots and never have a clue what's going on. It's ridic. Wish I could help. PM me I think I have the names and private numbers of some supervisors there though! Haha.

 

Ooo thanks!  If I continue to have issues I will definitely take you up on that.  So far my hospital has been very gracious to recode everything in a way that doesn't alert UHC.  But you are right about them being robots, they just keep saying sorry that's the way it is coded. 

And the kicker is lab work doesn't go towards my deductible.  I would be fine paying it if it did.

taylormarie923

carriet2018:

I hear you. when we got fertility testing I called everyone under the sun to make sure it was covered by insurance because if not I was going to hold off on testing. they all swore up and down it was 100% covered. we are still getting bills for it. because of the deductible which I should have known I guess, but you would think after all my calls someone would have mentioned that. Plus the testing went from Dec-Jan so once we covered our deductible for 2012 we started on 2013. double sigh.

 

That would piss me off!

Fun story, last year I got the cheapest plan that was all deductible based and ended up getting screwed on one visit to my doctor.  When renewal came up, I switched to a copay plan and then got pregnant and now have to pay more because hospital visits are now only covered 80% after deductible on the new plan.  

taylormarie923

Brittlentz:

We have UHC and I love it. I'm sorry you have had a bad experience. Can you change your plan?

 

No, the plan itself is really good, but they can't seem to keep it straight that I am pregnant and not getting blood work done for the fun of it.

shelfrgg25

I'm kind of new to the whole insurance thing.  I have BCBS HSA and so far it has been okay.  I don't have copays, but must meet my deductible before insurance pays 100%.  I met my deductible this month, so I just need to pay the 600 OOP. That I owe up until now.  The lab at my clinic is really awesome.  They have this payment plan option that if your total due is over 175, you can pay 150 within 72 hours and bam balance is gone.   It's like Houdini.

taylormarie923

shelfrgg25:

I'm kind of new to the whole insurance thing.  I have BCBS HSA and so far it has been okay.  I don't have copays, but must meet my deductible before insurance pays 100%.  I met my deductible this month, so I just need to pay the 600 OOP. That I owe up until now.  The lab at my clinic is really awesome.  They have this payment plan option that if your total due is over 175, you can pay 150 within 72 hours and bam balance is gone.   It's like Houdini.

 

That sounds amazing!  That is kind of how it would have been for me had I kept my plan from last year.  Kicking myself now.

shelfrgg25

I get a bill from my Dr's office, the imaging, and the lab.  It is ridic, that they can't bill together.  They are in the same building, same company. lol

smjmlove

I work as a phlebotomist for quest diagnostics and I am in a Ob Gyn i hate UHC I have to turn patients away and send them to labcorp my competition because if I don't they send nasty letters to the doctors threatening them. If I draw UHC patients at our patient service centers its twenty five doller copay I have been told theirs no copay at labcorp.

yesthisiskim0401

I had my first 3 prenatal appts billed to the wrong insurance and got eleven thousand dollars in bills in my mailbox on Thursday. Obviously my OB's office caught it but they never thought to rebill those 3 appointments, all with labs and ultrasounds, to the correct insurance. Such. A. Headache.

RunningGal900

I have UHC and I've actually found them to be great. The people I want to strangle are the idiots who work at my hospital system. Whenever I need to have a procedure done, I call them, ask for the specific billing code and how it will be billed, so I can call UHC and ask them if it's covered and how much I will have to pay OOP. Well so far, the hospital system has either only given me one code, when 6 will be billed or told me that it would be billed through X hospital and really it's coming from a private practice within the building, etc. It makes me crazy. It should not be this hard for me to find out up front how much I will be expected to pay assuming nothing changes (like I understand if you are having exploratory surgery, they don't know what they will find and it may cost more. But when all I got was the bloodwork and ultrasound I was expected to get, it should be what you said!).

 That said, when calling insurance, if you can get the right code from your provider that helps get a better estimate of what the cost should be. Assuming the provider gives you the correct code. 

RunningGal900

carriet2018:

sleepy33:

carriet2018:

I hear you. when we got fertility testing I called everyone under the sun to make sure it was covered by insurance because if not I was going to hold off on testing. they all swore up and down it was 100% covered. we are still getting bills for it. because of the deductible which I should have known I guess, but you would think after all my calls someone would have mentioned that. Plus the testing went from Dec-Jan so once we covered our deductible for 2012 we started on 2013. double sigh.

Ugh, deductibles are sneaky bastards. Does that mean you've already met yours for 2013, though, so most of your OB and hospital charges should be small?

ugh I have no idea how deductibles work. I mean I get it but they say it is 100% covered one would think that the deductible doesn't apply in that case. so far we haven't had a bill for OB appointments (specialists related to pregnancy like my thyroid doc yes got a bill). so I don't know if I am just going to get a big one at the end. But I keep getting statements and it says "cost $578, you owe provider $0" so I am just holding my breath and trying to shove extra money into savings in the event of a big bill at the end.

A lot of OBs bill a global package at the end of the pregnancy after delivery which includes all your appointments for prenatal care. But if you are getting statements after each appointment, it sounds like they are billing to insurance then and you shouldn't owe anything.  

norbert5

Totally understand the frustration. I paid almost 10,000 dollars OOP pocket one year for insurance because my pregnancy went from 20102011 and we had two insurances because DH switched jobs. That was three deductibles for one pregnancy. It was awful. Thank goodness we cpuld write some of it off on our taxes.

Just keep calling and fighting with them. I had to do that on some things and it was incredibly annoying but I didn't want them to get any extra money from me.