UnitedHealthcare Deletes Incriminating Chat

[u/One_Combination5776]

I had a certain medical appointment. I used the chat function about a month ago to verify that it was covered and what my out of pocket total would be. I provided all information such as facility name, address, Tax ID, and NPI number. They explicitly said that it is in network, is covered, and what the total is.

Fast forward a month and it was NOT covered. I knew someone somewhere told me it was but forgot who I talked to. I then scrolled up and saw it was in this chat that I verified the confirmation. I took pictures of the chat on my phone and called them out, telling them they told me in the chat it’s covered. I will have to have the medical office re-submit to insurance under a different code or something.

I then went back to look at those messages where they claimed to cover it. They were GONE. Just 30 minutes later. They weren’t the oldest or newest messages. Right in the middle. Messages before and after were still there.

I then called them out saying those messages are gone and I have screenshots proving they said the appointment is covered. And guess what, they are back an hour later.

I checked through the chat over and over to make sure my eyes were not deceiving me and that I wasn’t crazy. I also had my wife verify too.

I truly believed they made that section of the chat not visible to me, so I wouldn’t have proof of them saying it’s covered. Once I called them out and said I have proof, they brought it back. The coincidence is too large.

Has this happened to anyone else? Is this something they can do?

[u/msp_ryno]

NOTHING IS EVER A GUARANTEE OF PAYMENT. They will tell you that expressly.

[u/One_Combination5776 → u/msp_ryno]

That’s fine. My question is why did just that snippet of the conversation go missing. Not the stuff before or after. Just that one part.

[u/Savingskitty → u/One_Combination5776]

We didn’t have chats when I worked for them, but knowing the way the email systems worked back in the day, it is possible they actually cut and pasted into notes instead of copy and pasted.

We had to make a contact record in our call system for each email, so you copied and pasted anything that was referenced into the call system notes.

We literally made the emails using macros in Word.

Not sure how old their current chat set up is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was something absolutely brain dead like that.