I was a United Healthcare subscriber when UHC bought Pacificare. The merger process was a nightmare. UHC required all physicians to renegotiate their contracts with the company. This included doctors that already had a contract with UHC. When a physician’s contract was being renegotiated, that physician was considered out-of-network. UHC didn’t notify subscribers of this fact. After visits with two physicians, each of which I had seen previously as in-network, UHC refused to pay. They said the physicians were out-of-network. They eventually paid one physician but not the other. That doctor sent me a $600 bill, which I refused to pay. I was grateful when my employer switched health insurers. I hope I never have to deal with UHC again.
I was a United Healthcare subscriber when UHC bought Pacificare. The merger process was a nightmare. UHC required all physicians to renegotiate their contracts with the company. This included doctors that already had a contract with UHC. When a physician’s contract was being renegotiated, that physician was considered out-of-network. UHC didn’t notify subscribers of this fact. After visits with two physicians, each of which I had seen previously as in-network, UHC refused to pay. They said the physicians were out-of-network. They eventually paid one physician but not the other. That doctor sent me a $600 bill, which I refused to pay. I was grateful when my employer switched health insurers. I hope I never have to deal with UHC again.
2 lessons to learn from this:
1. Don’t write much, if any, business in CA.
2. Don’t offshore such an important function, even a part of it, such as Claims.