Insurance Resources

Dealing with insurance of any kind can be a stressful experience for anyone if you aren’t familiar with the language and jargon used on the forms.  Health insurance is no different – particularly when you are trying to make sure that the health insurance you have covers all of your health needs, including any regular therapies, durable medical equipment, specialist visits, and regular tests.

Navigating the world of health insurance can be daunting, but our Client Services team here at MSAA has a couple of resources that can help get you started on resolving your questions and issues:

  • Patient Advocate Foundation – The PAF provides case management for patients who are dealing with insurance, employment, or other legal issues related to their medical condition.
  • State Insurance Departments – This link will take you to a map of the United States with a link to each individual state’s insurance web page that can offer more information about the insurance laws and the insurance marketplaces available in your home state.
  • Life Happens – This non-profit provides information and resources to find life insurance, disability, and long-term care insurance policies/plans, and they can help you find a local agent to assist you with those plans.

You can also visit the main website for Medicare and Medicaid to find additional information about these two government-funded health insurance options.

This is just a short list of resources that you have at your disposal to help you work your way through your insurance questions.  For more information about your particular question or issue, please feel free to reach out to our Client Services Specialists at (800) 532-7667, ext. 154 or at MSquestions@mymsaa.org.

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Dealing with Insurance Denials

By Stacie Prada

Over the years I’ve appealed a lot of health insurance denials for different reasons.  I’ve dealt with getting denied for claims, denied for policy coverage, and denied for pre-approval for certain treatments. Each time I open the denial paperwork, I can literally feel my blood pressure go up. Now I have something to deal with on top of everything else.

I didn’t learn how to deal with these things in school. Yes, I learned to read, understand text and problem solve, but insurance paperwork is formal, in small print, and not always clear.  Getting denied creates an emotional response with financial consequences.  I see people shut down when they need to read legal paperwork, and I’m saddened when it costs them money they didn’t need to spend.  I’ve learned what to do by dealing with each denial one at a time. Thankfully so far, my experiences have been what I’d think of as the minor league level of insurance appeals where I was able to do them myself.

I’ve had to prove I’m not divorced or legally separated to continue coverage for my spouse. While we were in the process of getting divorced, I legally changed my name to my maiden name and gave them the judge’s order showing the name change.  My insurance company wanted proof I wasn’t divorced.  I was angry and completely stumped.  How do I prove I’m not divorced?  There’s not a judge’s document that shows a person is still married.  By talking to insurance representatives, they finally were able to tell me what kind of documents would satisfy them.  I had to provide them with our marriage certificate, my name change order (again), joint bank statements with the address they had for us, utility bills with both our names, and federal tax returns to show we were still filing as married. It took all of that plus a lot of effort on my part and time on theirs before they continued covering my spouse and re-processed his claims.

I had a provider that would bill the insurance provider and would receive no response EVERY time. We finally learned the routine. First, my provider would let me know the claim hadn’t been processed for a long time. I would then call the insurance company to ask about it, and the person on the phone would tell me it was in process and should be paid within the next week.  While absurd and seemingly a tactic used to avoid paying, I accepted it as part of the process with that company and my provider.

I’ve formally appealed my insurance company’s refusal to cover my disease modifying medication at a dosage of three days per week. I knew the daily dosage worked for me, but I couldn’t find seven different areas on my body to do injections each week without body tissue breaking down. I tried two other medications and lived with terrible side effects for over a year hoping they would subside without success. While appealing the insurance company’s denial, I lived without any disease modifying drug for six months.  It was stressful going without something that has been proven to slow progression of MS.  Not knowing if it would get approved or how long it would take compounded the anxiety the process caused me.  I wish it had occurred to me to look online for examples of appeal letters.  While mine was effective, it took me a while to write and was stressful worrying that it wouldn’t be successful.

I’ve had bills come through that have been denied because the provider billed the wrong insurance company. Just the most recent bill would have cost me $750 out of pocket if I hadn’t been paying attention.  It astounds me to think of all the money people are paying that they shouldn’t.  All because it looks like every step has been done and they’re told the remainder is their responsibility.

I know people who think that yelling at the company helps. Personally, I think yelling at the customer service representative is a waste of time. That person didn’t create our insurance system and isn’t the one creating policy at the company causing your frustration.  I think the people answering phones are just following orders and trying to keep their job to support themselves and their family.  Letting them know you’re frustrated is useful. Yelling and not listening increases the amount of time it takes to figure out what the issue is and what will help. It adds to my stress level and makes my life harder.  Advocating for my care doesn’t need to feel like a battle.  By being friendly, I’ve had pleasant interactions with insurance representatives that have brightened my day.

What I think helps me navigate insurance appeals:

  1. If you don’t understand the denial, call the insurance company and ask them to tell you what the reason was and what you need to do for them to approve or re-process the claim.
  2. Be pleasant to the person on the phone. If I’m upset, I’ll tell them, “I know this isn’t your fault. I’m really frustrated, so please bear with me.” I can hear the person on the phone relax, and it seems they’re more willing to help problem solve my issue.
  3. Accept that often you’ll need to provide things repeatedly. Sometimes it’ll be each time a claim is processed, others will be annually.
  4. Maintain good records of medical bills and payments. See my blog post for tracking medical bills if you want tips or a system: Creating Some Order In The Medical Billing Chaos.  If you haven’t kept good records, just call your insurance company and your medical provider to figure out what the status is and what you can do now.
  5. Open all medical bills or insurance statements when received to see what they say. It’s tempting to put bills and other mail in a pile for later, but that’s a habit that makes it easy to lose track of paper and time. Waiting will only compound some issues and leave you with less time to resolve them.  If it says it’s covered, you’ll know how much you owe. This may shape decisions you make regarding purchases.  And sometimes it’s good news!
  6. Keep copies of documents with medical insurance files so that you know what was provided in the past. It will also be ready to send again when they repeatedly deny coverage for the same issue.
  7. If feeling the tendency to shut down, take a break. A few minutes or days may be needed to be able to work on it again. Usually appeal deadlines I’ve seen are 180 days.  Know the timeline, and don’t wait until the end. Otherwise you’ll keep getting bills that can hang over you and cause anxiety.
  8. Share your experience with friends or coworkers on dealing with medical appeals. They often have experiences of their own with advice that may help you in your situation.  You may also be helping them be better prepared for dealing with their own insurance issues.
  9. For writing appeal letters, look online for examples. I searched for “prescription appeal letter,” and found many terrific examples to follow.  If you enter the specific name of the medication or device you’re trying to obtain with “appeal letter” you’ll find lots of tailored examples. If there isn’t one specific to your situation, use the others as a guide for how to convince your insurance company to approve it.
  10. Remember you don’t always have to figure out everything on your own. Look for your resources.  There are online suggestions from organizations about dealing with insurance.  Friends and family can often break down the issue to a level that’s manageable. If the stakes are really high, you may want to get professional assistance with your appeal.

Having a chronic condition that requires ongoing medical treatment is already frustrating and draining.  Learning how to navigate the insurance world and cultivating the patience needed to deal with it goes a long way. It can improve your medical care, reduce out of pocket expenses, and make life a lot easier than it might be otherwise.

*Stacie Prada was diagnosed with RRMS in 2008 at the age of 38.  Her blog, “Keep Doing What You’re Doing” is a compilation of inspiration, exploration, and practical tips for living with Multiple Sclerosis while living a full, productive, and healthy life with a positive perspective. It includes musings on things that help her adapt, cope and rejoice in this adventure on earth. Please visit her at http://stacieprada.blogspot.com/

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Keeping Track of your MS

I thought I would share a “tip” on how I keep track of my MS – so I’m able to recall things when needed or share information with other members of my health care team (who are not my neurologist).

So here is what I’ve done. I went and bought a HUGE binder… and I requested all my Medical Records… Personally, I had to get medical records from my diagnosing neurologist (general neurologist) and my MS Specialist neurologist. But I also got my records from all my other doctors.

I find this a lot easier when I need to recall past treatment… while I can sit here and name off MS treatments I’ve taken, I can’t always recall the dates in which I was on certain medications and/or received a specific treatment for something.

My medical records binder also includes my MRI reports. I also requested my MRI reports from the radiology clinic, because I’ve found that when I have a followup appointment, and I have the records on hand… it’s easier to go over with my neurologist… especially since results can take some time to be sent.

Now let me say that this is a work in progress… because I’m always getting more medical records… I usually collect them after I have a “change” in my health… or every 6 months.

I also take the time to place my records in order by date. So it’s kind of like a binder timeline of my MS…

I’m currently working on getting dividers for the binder. While I like things in order by date, I thought it would be beneficial to categorize things further, for example: Primary Care, Neurologist, MRI Reports, etc. I’m also contemplating getting a small binder for each category, so if needed, I can take a binder with me.

It’s all about personal preference… and honestly… some people could carry their medical records with them at once… but I have A LOT of records, so that wouldn’t be so easy.

It may not be needed a lot… but I can tell you that I’m very happy that I requested my records… because it has helped me make  decisions since I was diagnosed. For example, I decided to change from my diagnosing neurologist, to a specialist. I had been contemplating the idea, but then  I went over my medical records and I saw that there were things documented in the records that were “discussed” with my mother and I… that actually were NOT.

Just know that as a patient, you have the rights to your medical records. You never know when they might come in handy and they may help to keep you on track.

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If you have Medicare, get the information you need to know:

Tomorrow, October 15th, is the first day of Medicare Open Enrollment for plan year 2014. The plan that you select now will impact your medical coverage and costs for an entire year. Don’t forget to tune in to our live Webinar tomorrow evening from 8-9PM EST for important information on Medicare Open Enrollment and specific tips for people living with MS.

To register for the Webinar, go to the following link: support.mymsaa.org/aca1

If you cannot attend the live program, don’t worry, you will be able to watch the archive and download the presentation slides from our MSi page after the live program:  https://mymsaa.org/manage-your-ms/videos/.

This year, be prepared. Learn from Medicare experts who can try to help you understand what questions to ask and how to select your best options.

 

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