Hi, I’m sorry for such a long post I’m just not sure what’s relevant or not. I posted this in legaladvice and someone suggested I post here, please give me any advice you can offer!
ETA: I’m 21 years old and living in upstate NY with my mom and stepdad, and my dad lives on Long Island NY
My parents divorced when I was a baby and part of the divorce agreement stated that my dad was responsible for covering my health insurance. In 2015 my step dad added me onto his plan, which became my secondary while my dads plan stayed my primary. I went to regular doctors appointments and stuff like that without any problem. From the summer of 2019 to Spring of 2020 I visited the emergency room and stayed in the hospital for a few days on two occasions, needed an ambulance for one of them, and attended many counseling appointments. This added up to thousands of dollars in bills, and I gave everyone my insurance info.
During the spring EOBS started coming in from both insurance companies saying they were secondary and won’t pay anything until the primary pays first. I called my (dads) primary insurance company and they agreed it was some mistake and said they would fix it. They didn’t and my bills never got paid, I constantly got calls from the providers and had to bug people from the company all the time to see what the problem was- sometimes they said they were the primary and don’t know what’s happening, sometimes they claimed they were secondary because my step dads birthday comes before my dads, sometimes they would claim they already paid bills and I would call the provider to confirm and there had been no payment at all. (I was stupid at first and not recording anything but since fall of 2020 I have been writing down records of every single conversation I have with every provider and insurance rep.) My dad has called to see if there is anything he can do to clear things up and they tell him they are not primary. Things have been going around and around in circles for over a year now. Some of the bills have gone to collections, I break down crying several times a week and sometimes have panic attacks when I get a call or need to call somebody regarding this. For some reason the two insurance companies are unable to communicate with each other and everything has to go through me and it has put me through incredible amounts of stress but I’m afraid to even continue counseling because I don’t want to rack up more bills.
Finally someone I spoke to with my step dads insurance said they were looking at a court order from 2015 stating my dads insurance was primary and step dads was secondary and that I could write to them to request it be sent to me. They send me a letter back saying they actually don’t have it but will send me a statement of eligibility and hopefully that will help. They have no idea how I could obtain the court order or a copy of it, but they know it exists? I tell my dads insurance about this, they say to send them all the evidence I have and maybe they will agree they were the primary but since all the dates of service are over a year old they won’t get paid anyway and it’s my responsibility now. I’m pulling out my hair. I’m waiting on that statement of eligibility to be mailed to me then I’m going to mail that and a copy of the original divorce agreement to my dads insurance and see what happens next. I can’t believe they could possibly not pay because of the timeline when they are the reason this has gone on so long.
On top of that my mom suggested I report my dads insurance or possibly both to the consumer assistance unit I think it’s called? I was wondering if the actions of the company/both companies seems compliant worthy, if I have the right place to complain to, and if/how they can help me out. I am also so distraught with this whole thing that sometimes I think about suing my dads insurance company. They have caused me so much anxiety and depression, and the bills going to collections is going to affect my future credit I assume? I really feel like what they’re doing is not right and I’m wondering if this would be worth bringing up to a lawyer? However it’s my dads insurance company that he uses and his wife and other 3 kids and I don’t want this to affect them negatively, does anyone know what kind of affects would reporting and/or suing the company have on them?
Sorry again for the long post and thank you for any advice or insight you can offer me!
submitted by /u/coyjewishpartygirl
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Hi, I’m sorry for such a long post I’m just not sure what’s relevant or not. I posted this in legaladvice and someone suggested I post here, please give me any advice you can offer! ETA: I’m 21 years old and living in upstate NY with my mom and stepdad, and my dad lives on Long Island NY My parents divorced when I was a baby and part of the divorce agreement stated that my dad was responsible for covering my health insurance. In 2015 my step dad added me onto his plan, which became my secondary while my dads plan stayed my primary. I went to regular doctors appointments and stuff like that without any problem. From the summer of 2019 to Spring of 2020 I visited the emergency room and stayed in the hospital for a few days on two occasions, needed an ambulance for one of them, and attended many counseling appointments. This added up to thousands of dollars in bills, and I gave everyone my insurance info. During the spring EOBS started coming in from both insurance companies saying they were secondary and won’t pay anything until the primary pays first. I called my (dads) primary insurance company and they agreed it was some mistake and said they would fix it. They didn’t and my bills never got paid, I constantly got calls from the providers and had to bug people from the company all the time to see what the problem was- sometimes they said they were the primary and don’t know what’s happening, sometimes they claimed they were secondary because my step dads birthday comes before my dads, sometimes they would claim they already paid bills and I would call the provider to confirm and there had been no payment at all. (I was stupid at first and not recording anything but since fall of 2020 I have been writing down records of every single conversation I have with every provider and insurance rep.) My dad has called to see if there is anything he can do to clear things up and they tell him they are not primary. Things have been going around and around in circles for over a year now. Some of the bills have gone to collections, I break down crying several times a week and sometimes have panic attacks when I get a call or need to call somebody regarding this. For some reason the two insurance companies are unable to communicate with each other and everything has to go through me and it has put me through incredible amounts of stress but I’m afraid to even continue counseling because I don’t want to rack up more bills. Finally someone I spoke to with my step dads insurance said they were looking at a court order from 2015 stating my dads insurance was primary and step dads was secondary and that I could write to them to request it be sent to me. They send me a letter back saying they actually don’t have it but will send me a statement of eligibility and hopefully that will help. They have no idea how I could obtain the court order or a copy of it, but they know it exists? I tell my dads insurance about this, they say to send them all the evidence I have and maybe they will agree they were the primary but since all the dates of service are over a year old they won’t get paid anyway and it’s my responsibility now. I’m pulling out my hair. I’m waiting on that statement of eligibility to be mailed to me then I’m going to mail that and a copy of the original divorce agreement to my dads insurance and see what happens next. I can’t believe they could possibly not pay because of the timeline when they are the reason this has gone on so long. On top of that my mom suggested I report my dads insurance or possibly both to the consumer assistance unit I think it’s called? I was wondering if the actions of the company/both companies seems compliant worthy, if I have the right place to complain to, and if/how they can help me out. I am also so distraught with this whole thing that sometimes I think about suing my dads insurance company. They have caused me so much anxiety and depression, and the bills going to collections is going to affect my future credit I assume? I really feel like what they’re doing is not right and I’m wondering if this would be worth bringing up to a lawyer? However it’s my dads insurance company that he uses and his wife and other 3 kids and I don’t want this to affect them negatively, does anyone know what kind of affects would reporting and/or suing the company have on them? Sorry again for the long post and thank you for any advice or insight you can offer me!
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