u/cca2013

Health Insurance and medical bills drive me insane! I'm hoping for a sanity check.

This year I switched to a different insurance company under United Healthcare (which also owns Optum pharmacy.) I transferred my prescription from picking it up at a local CVS to having it mail order delivered by Optum because it looked like it would be cheaper. I don't know if they initiated it or I clicked to agree to have Optum contact my nurse provider to have my prescription renewed. Now I have a bill from Franciscan for a $25 co-pay. When I look in Franciscan's my-chart for the date, there's an "After visit summary" coding for the refill with Optum. Do I legitimately owe this?

My spouse and I are both postal service employees and have had Blue Cross Blue Shield dental for both 2025 & 2026. The only change is that last year we were under NALC hi-option and this year we're under APWU consumer driven. Last month I got a call from my dentist's office saying that BCBS dental refused to pay the claim for a regular exam & cleaning because I had health insurance. I had to call BCBS to ask them to pay the claim.

Now this exact same thing has happened again for my spouse for a regular cleaning and exam. The EOB says "Our records indicate that your other insurance company has primary responsibility for this claim. Please return this notice along with the explanation of benefits (EOB) from the primary insurer. Refer to the how you obtain care section of your benefit brochure."

Y'all, insurance stuff stresses me out so much! Is this some kind of new thing for 2026 that health insurance is supposed to be billed for dental as well or is this just an diabolical BCBS tactic to try to not pay?

My teenager recently got sutures at the IU Emergency room that will need to be removed at the 7 day point. I believe they told us to come back to the Emergency room to get them removed. That doesn't seem like an "emergency" to me so I'm wondering if there are any local places where we can make an appointment to schedule this. His normal pediatrician has retired so he doesn't currently have a primary care physician. The emergency department waiting room is not a place either of us enjoyed being at and I don't want to pay for a 2nd emergency room visit if it can be avoided.