Bad health benefits coordination situation

So, I have a tendency to jump around jobs so I rely on my wife's job as our health insurance and she added myself and our entire family to it.

However, during June of 2023, I had an opportunity to enroll at my own employer's insurance. I enrolled with the idea of never using it, just so that I can enroll in the company's life insurance policy as well. Unfortunately, that didn't last long as I was laid off in August 2023. Therefore I had this two medical insurance on between June 2023 to the end of August 2023.

During the end of August 2023 I had a combo endoscopy and colonoscopy. I made the mistake of never informing the medical provider of my own medical insurance, only my wife's policy that covers us.

Late last year I received a bill from the medical provider for the procedure, about $6,000. It seems that the medical provider initially billed my wife's insurance for the procedure, they initially approved it and paid for it. However, the clawed the money back after they found out about my own insurance from my own employer later on. The medical provider then decides to bill me instead.

After some back and forth and a lot of phone calls, I finally understood why and the ins and outs of the insurance coordination business. I provided my "primary" insurance info to the medical provider. It turns out that my "primary" insurance (the one that I had for two months) would not have been accepted by the provider at all, so that other insurance that clawed back the claim is the only option. I have explained to the provider the situation and I have also explained to my wife's insurance of the situation as well; they have promised to refile the claim and I have not heard back… It's been almost two months.

There has not been much progress since; and I just gotten another bill from the medical provider for the same balance. I have even setup a call between There seems to be a bunch of finger pointing between the medical provider and insurance, and neither party seems to be willing to do what's needed to clear this up. Meanwhile, I'm potentially stuck with this bill.

What are my options at this point, other than keep trying with the two parties? Would a complaint with the department of insurance be an appropriate next step if I'm keep being told to pay this bill?

submitted by /u/hookahmasta
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