I met with a client of ours from one of our small groups yesterday regarding his payment plan he was making to Kaiser Permanente. He has his family on the medical plan and has his medical benefits through Kaiser. He lives in San Jose and works in a small business out of San Jose, CA.
When he came into the office, he had a bunch of bills that he kept which is the right step to take. Whenever dealing with a medical facility, you always need to keep any paperwork that you get. This individual kept records of whom he talked to at Kaiser and when he called.
He got himself on a payment plan, which was smart. Then Kaiser forgot to send him a bill one of the months. He missed that payment, but then made up for it. He continued making the payments to Kaiser and then 6 months later, they decided to send him to collections because he didn’t pay that one month that they forgot to bill him for.
I helped the man file a grievance with the facility and then called the collections company to get a 30-day extension in order for them to put a halt on any sort of fee or interest that would have taken place.
When we called Kaiser initially, they said that there was no way for them to be able to recall it back out of collections, that due to their medical insurance rules, they were unable to do that any longer. One person just trying to make his payment and they sent him out to collections.
This is just one person out of hundreds that we insure. Not everyone runs into these situations with group insurance, but when it happens, it’s always good to have someone on their side. If you have a group health insurance plan but no broker, then you need to find one. If you have a broker currently, but they aren’t fighting for your needs, then you may want to have a conversation with us!
Bonnie Shelton – (408) 421-5555 – 3150 Almaden Expressway, Suite 203, San Jose, CA 95118