Optum says it erroneously billed 249 people for COVID-19 vaccine
Optum accidentally charged 249 Medicare Advantage enrollees for the COVID-19 vaccine.
The New Mexico Superintendent of Insurance Office said that the UnitedHealth Group subsidiary accidentally charged enrollees $34 for the administration of the vaccine and $0.05 for the vaccine itself. An Optum spokesperson said the company is contacting anyone who was sent an invoice to tell them that they do not need to pay any fees associated with the coronavirus vaccine, and all members who have already paid the bill will receive a refund.
In a letter to the state on Jan. 29, Tim Godfrey, Optum s vice president of operations, said the error came from Change Healthcare, a revenue cycle management company that parent UnitedHealth Group acquired for $13 billion in January. Godfrey wrote that patients with and without insurance were charged for the vaccine. He said systems at Change Healthcare had been updated to reflect that the sho
Created: January 08, 2021 05:05 PM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- A man was sent to collections for not paying for a COVID-19 test, which are supposed to come at no cost to New Mexicans.
The man, who did not want to reveal his name, said he got a COVID-19 test in May that was provided by the state.
The test was billed to his insurance, but payment did not go through due to an apparent clerical error. The non-payment was then referred to a collection agency, which he received an alert about.
“At first I thought it was likely ID theft,” he said. Pretty crazy because my understanding was, in all circumstances, it’s free to the patient.”