Marianne Chester believes in being proactive about her health.
“If something, God forbid, were wrong, I’d want to catch it immediately,” she said.
It the reason why she gets a mammogram every year. The single mother contacted NBC 6 Responds last year, after paying $406 for a mammogram she thought would be covered by her insurance as preventative care.
“Why am I being billed for this?” she told us last Fall. “This is supposed to be covered 100%.”
It turned out the original order from her doctor included a diagnostic code for “family history” – even though she said she had none. As a courtesy, UHealth eventually resubmitted the claim to her insurance and reimbursed her for the money she paid. That was back in November.
“I kept checking online for the portal on the invoices and saw that the amount was still there, billing me,” she said. “When I saw that I immediately called them and emailed them and said ‘I don’t understand – this was refunded. Why is still being billed?”
Marianne says she was given several reasons, including that when UHealth resubmitted the bill, her insurance company kicked it back saying she was only covered for one mammogram in a lifetime.
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“I know my policy,” she said. “I called Blue Cross and I actually had them email me documentation over to that effect.”
She gave us a letter from her insurance, saying Marianne’s insurance covers one preventative mammogram a year. She called NBC 6 Responds a second time, hoping we could help her get some answers and avoid a bad mark on her credit.
“My initial main concern was some clerk is going to send it to collections because they’re going to see, wow, this service was rendered in 2015, it’s not paid yet,” she said.
In a statement, UHealth said, “We have worked continuously with the patient and her insurance company. The matter has been completely resolved and her account has been cleared.”
“The issue will not be resolved until I see a zero balance on my invoice online,” Marianne told us.
In an email, UHealth told Marianne they were going to write off her account in order to “avoid further inconveniences” for her. A few days later, she received another email from UHealth showing her account had a zero balance and apologizing “for taking unnecessarily long” to resolve her concerns.
Marianne works hard to maintain her credit, she said, and that’s why she was proactive and kept checking her account. She said other consumers should do the same, to catch any potential issues early. She was glad she did said she’s hopeful the situation is now resolved for good.
