Good morning.
Last year, when my son needed ankle surgery after a bad fall, I sent him to see Dr. John G. Kennedy, the director of the foot and ankle center at NYU Langone. Enrolled in Aetna through my previous employer, I reluctantly paid more than $20,000 upfront for the outpatient procedure, assuming I’d get most of it reimbursed, having maxed out on our annual out-of-pocket payments. Despite numerous appeals to Aetna, the hospital and the employer, I was stuck paying the entire bill. (The doctor had shaved $5,000 off the initial $25,500 cost after I said it was staggeringly high for this single mom.) My then-employer and NYU Langone both insisted the fault lay with Aetna, while the insurer gave various reasons in refusing to reimburse the doctor’s surgery cost. I vividly recall the frustration of the patient advocate at Aetna, who claimed it wasn’t always this tough to get paid.
