My United Health Care, ER visit, and claim

*DISCLAIMER: This is a follow up to a post from about a week ago. I have not quite met the deductible yet.

Took my wife to the ER on 4/26. Hospital called to take an Estimated Payment on 4/28 for roughly $900. Put it on my credit card. From my understanding, this acts as a "downpayment" or something until Insurance processes.

A few days ago, we received the bill with the due amount $0.00 (charges were about $5,000) because it shows "Insurance Pending". So I was thinking, great. Just wait until Insurance does their thing (which I know can take a while).

Fast forward to today and I go on my UHC online portal and see that the claim showed up. It showed the charges that matched the bill, the plan discount, and amount NOW OWED: $2,200.

I was getting ready to pay it but thought "Hold up… shouldn't my initial $900 payment I made be taken off of that?" So I called the Hospital to ask how much do I need to pay? I don't want to overpay. After asking about the estimate I paid, they said, "Well, you don't owe anything yet, actually. It still shows insurance pending"…… Okkkkkk…. but my UHC says I owe $2,200?

Has anyone had a situation like this? Where your claim through insurance shows an amount owed, but the hospital says it's still pending?

Even though my UHC says a total amount owed, could there be more processing on their end to be done before I pay a bill? I saw somewhere someone said to wait to pay a bill until an explanation of benefits is available.

TL;DR

Paid a $900 estimate for an ER visit, was sent an Insurance Pending bill afterwards (Owing $0.00, at the time, while it processes). My UHC online claim came through and says after the plan discounts, I owe $2,200. But I called the hospital and they said the claim is still pending and I DON'T owe anything yet… should I wait to pay? Am I still waiting on insurance, even though they have a claim on my insurance online account? The hospital bill NOR insurance claim mentions the $900 I already paid, I thought that should be deducted from the $2,200.

submitted by /u/AUBtiger92
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