I like to think of myself as pro-business. But there are exceptions to every rule, and my exception to this one is insurance companies. And after hearing about what’s happening to a friend of mine with her insurance company, I won’t be changing my mind soon.
A few years ago, her husband wanted to get some five-figure medical treatment. The insurance company said they would not pre-authorize anything, and that the best they could do was get the treatment, submit the claim, and hope for the best. (That business practice, in itself, is nuts.) Anyway, he received the treatment, they submitted the claim, and the insurance company paid $13,500 of the overall $15,000 bill. (I won’t name the company for fear of violating some law against disclosing truth, but it rhymes with “bigna.”)
Now, two years later, one of the company’s “overpayment recovery coordinators” wants them to pay the money back. In other words — and I find this quite outrageous — this company pays employees to go after the insured to get their money back after they’ve paid it, and after the insured has, presumably, already spent it.
Query for the insurance company: why bother paying claims if you aren’t exactly sure whether you should be paying them? And query for consumers: why bother doing business with an insurance company who retains a team of “overpayment recovery coordinators”?
