How UME Helped Me Navigate my Health Insurance!

One of the things we love to do here at Breathing Room is show people how University of Maryland Extension (UME) can help them with day-to-day challenges. We have tons of classes and resources all focused on helping people make positive changes in their lives. Today, I thought I would share the story of how one of those resources helped me navigate a particularly confusing situation with my health insurance.

I don’t think it’s a secret that health insurance can be really confusing. When I started working for UME, I didn’t know much at all about how my insurance worked. But, I actually wasn’t too concerned about it. I had always been on my mother’s insurance and she had always helped me with it. Then, I got certified to teach our Smart Choice, Smart Use program and learned so much about the ins and outs of insurance! Now, I often get to teach people (including my own friends and family) about how health insurance works. I didn’t even realize how much my own confidence had increased until I ran into a problem with my insurance.

It all started with my going to the doctor for a regular checkup. I wasn’t concerned, until a few weeks later I got a bill for $400 and a letter saying my visit wasn’t covered. Because of all I had learned, I knew my visit should have been considered preventive care and I knew my doctor was in-network for my plan. So, the visit should have been covered and I shouldn’t have had any out-of-pocket costs.

I called the insurance company to get an explanation and they let me know they would look into it and get back to me. After not hearing back for a few weeks, I called again. The issue appeared to be that the health insurance company was confused about whether I was still covered under my mother’s insurance after getting married. We spent so long going back and forth, that I actually started getting calls from a debt collection company. I still refused to pay because I knew the visit should have been covered!

Finally, the health insurance company resolved the problem and paid for the visit. After receiving confirmation the bill was paid, I wrote a letter to the debt collection company asking them to verify the debt, which basically means the debt collection company has to go back and make sure the original debt is still valid (I also learned about this from UME, we have great classes about credit and debt!) Finally, the company stopped contacting me and everything was resolved.

Recently, I was thinking about how differently this whole situation could have gone for me! Without the knowledge and confidence I had gained with UME, I don’t think I would have known I could file a dispute with the health insurance company and get things figured out. Having had this personal experience, it’s so important to me to spread the word about our resources so that people can get the knowledge and skills they need to avoid situations like this.

So, if you have ever been confused by health insurance, check out these resources!