Yep......I've had it!!!

My daughter had a ruptured appendix. Not something you can really prevent or control eh?

Her dad carries insurance on her as required by the divorce. I ALSO carry insurance on the kids because I never know if he is going to keep up his end of the bargain. I pay over 400 dollars a month to keep us all insured. Both are Aetna plans. This seems to confuse everyone. Most times, the clinics and hospitals bill the wrong one first even though I state and re-state his HAS to go first because of the divorce decree. I contacted Aetna more than once....told them which plan has to go first etc etc etc.

The total bill for getting an appendix removed was 25,000$. Now, I'm getting bills from all over timbucktoo telling me my insurance company won't pay because there is another plan that comes first yada yada yada.

Why can they not LISTEN to me and bill the right freaking plan first????????? Why do I have to keep calling people over and over and over?

I'm going insane with this! You try to do the right thing by keeping your kids insured and all you get is a runaround. I just know I'm going to end up being sued over some of these bills and pay things that the insurance companies should have paid.

Sorry so long. I'm just sick of dealing with it.

Talk to Aetna, its an internal Aetna issue, they should be able to straighten this out. Same thing happened to me several years ago, took a while but finally got settled. Good Luck.

Hope your daughter is recovering well.

i sympathize....400$ plus his insurance just to end talking on the phone for hours and hours to get what you are paying for?!? its nice to have legal racketeering.

Thank you, she is doing fine. I think it's an internal problem too. If they know a child has 2 plans by them it seems they could just organize it as such and pay it out accordingly. However, it appears I have to do everything twice in order to get anything paid. It's ridiculous the way they do things.

Isn't it though? I don't think I'll ever have it straightened out without paying something I shouldn't have.
The bad things is, the same kiddo needs to have a tonsillectomy and I'm going to have to put it off until this mess is payed for first. Sigh.

Do you give the provider his insurance card at time of service? Problem with computer systems hospitals and doctors share all the info, and just usually take the first one they find. I spent two years straightening work injury bills off my own insurance, so my sympathies go out to you.

Inept beaurocracy at it's best!!!

Oh yes I do. I even state and re-state which one is supposed to go first and usually make a trip to the head office person to remind them which is first. It's like they just don't care. They all think the "birthday rule" is the only rule they can abide by even though divorce decrees always top that. I hate getting those denial of payment letters. They just piss me off! (sorry, I'm just fed up)

Good ole birthday rule. Good luck.

I know right? It wastes SO much time and money for everyone involved just trying to get each bill paid. The only bill so far that I saw actually went almost like it should have was the main hospital bill. For that I am thankful, although that is the one I probably could have got straightened out the quickest. I saw the woman in charge personally and she seemed to really listen to me and billed it correctly.

I sure do miss the days when healthcare was a bit easier to manage.

Get your docmentation together and send a letter to your state insurance comissioner. Should be listed in the blue pages of your phone book.