Getting harassed by Natera’s predatory billing department

TW: Miscarriage

My domestic partner suffered a devastating miscarriage in January of 2023. Subsequently, our fertility doctor sent the fetal tissue to a third party provider for lab services to determine whether a chromosomal abnormality was the cause. Since then, we've been fortunate enough to have a beautiful healthy baby girl. It wasn't until April of this year (a year and three months after the service) that we received a bill in the mail for $799 from a company called Natera. The bill was for the lab services requested by our doctor, and the bill explained that our insurance refused to cover the services, so we would instead be on the hook for the payment.

Setting aside that this bill was a slap in the face and reopened the wound of an upsetting point in our lives, Natera is in-network, and this service should absolutely have been covered by my health insurance. I'm fortunate enough to have good insurance through my work, and, through my benefits, a patient advocate who sometimes acts as a buffer between employees and our insurance company. I reached out explaining the situation, and my patient advocate reached out to Cigna, my insurance company, who explained that Natera had failed to complete a preauthorization before the service, which is why their claim was rejected, but that they were "prohibited from billing the patient." When I looked in my Cigna portal, I saw the claim and EOB, which indeed noted multiple times that this was a mistake of the provider's, and that I was not on the hook to pay anything, even noting that if I had already paid the provider, I should request reimbursement from them.

Cigna in turn reached out to Natera, who said they would submit a new claim with retro preauthorization. However, I never saw a new claim surface in my portal, and we continued getting more mail from Natera with increasingly urgent language about our bill being "PAST DUE." Not knowing what else to do, I called Natera billing myself on three occasions to speak directly with customer support. The first time, the specialist said she would escalate the matter to her supervisor and that I should see the balance on my bill go back to zero at payment.natera.com within a week (it's been over a week and the balance is still $799). The second time, I was disconnected. The third time, the specialist told me to hold while he connected with customer support, and, over the course of a half an hour, repeatedly returned to the line every two minutes to robotically let me know he was still waiting for a response and could he put me on a brief hold. In the third instance I told him "I know this isn't your fault, but I've been on hold with you for a half an hour; can you just call me back when you hear from them?" He said he would call back in between 30-60 minutes and never did.

I submitted a message to Natera's online portal explaining the situation, the research I and my patient advocate did confirming this was Natera's fault and that it was not just to be billing me for their mistake. I noted that Natera had told my insurance they would resubmit the claim but that no such claim had surfaced. A week later, I received a response thanking me for choosing Natera and saying that because their claim was rejected by insurance, they had no choice but to bill me (citing the original claim from a year ago — not even noting any new claim with retro preauthorization).

I am writing this in part because I am at my wits end being harassed by Natera — while also trying to parent my infant daughter and return to work — and unsure how to proceed getting this nightmare resolved. Furthermore, I want to spread the word that Natera's billing department is cruel and predatory, and hopefully assure someone else in my shoes that they aren't alone. Upon research, it sounds like Natera has been accused and even brought to court for ripping off customers with bogus bills, so I can only hope they're brought to some semblance of justice.

On the first point — my being unsure how to proceed — any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help.

submitted by /u/odysseus772
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