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PrintHelp Me Hank: Refund Remedy
You wouldn't call Cynthia Miletta a total health nut, but she's certainly health conscious. She stays in shape.
Cynthia Miletta
"I try to walk a half hour every day."
She prepares fresh food.
Cynthia Miletta
"We have broccoli at least twice a week."
She keeps up with her regular check-ups. And she's got medical insurance to pay for it.
Cynthia Miletta
"It's really important."
So when Cynthia went for a routine mammogram she thought, no problem, insurance pays. But then a surprise statement from her insurance company saying she wasn't covered.
Cynthia Miletta
"They've never done that in the past..."
And this baffling bill saying she had to pay.
Cynthia Miletta
"I was very surprised."
To protect her coverage, she figured she'd send them a check.
Cynthia Miletta
"You think, well they're the authority and, you know, they must know what they're doing."
They didn't -- soon after her insurance company decided to pay for the x-ray too. Bottom line, Cynthia's bill had been paid twice.
Cynthia Miletta
"So I said, well that means I need a refund."
She made phone call after phone call. Cynthia was out more than $100.
Cynthia Miletta
"My patience was running out."
It seemed the imaging office couldn't diagnose the coverage confusion.
Cynthia Miletta
"They were just kind of brushing me aside, kind of ignoring me."
After several months she needed a refund remedy.
Cynthia Miletta
"I said, ‘Well I think I'm going to send an e-mail to Help Me Hank.’"
So who's supposed to pay? Right here in Cynthia's medical insurance stuff, it says routine mammograms are fully covered. We called the imaging office to ask them why they were keeping two payments for one exam.
First they blamed the insurance company, then they reviewed their records. Then they sent her a check. Knowing Cynthia, the refund will of course go to a healthy cause.
Cynthia Miletta
"It's always good to have a little bit put aside."
The state’s Division of Insurance has a whole office set up to help resolve problems with health insurance payments.
The following offices were created to oversee managed health care plans operating in Massachusetts.