Sorry this is long. For those older than 65, Can UHC make enrollment in Medicare Part B mandatory for UHC coverage?

My wife is older and retired in 2008 and signed up for Social Security, this automatically got her Medicare Part A insurance which is hospitalization only, NO doctor coverage. I've always carried her on my private medical insurance I get through my employer. Mainly because the cost was about the same as Medicare and our PCP did not accept Medicare. It also has drug coverage.

We both go to the same PCP and neurologist. We both have visited both doctors once this year already and UHC approved the claims for both of us. Since we were on a high deductible plan, we essentially paid out of pocket for all the visits. This saved us a few dollars because we pay the doctor at the discount rate that UHC gets over the normal prices. So we paid $121.47 on a $150 visit and it goes against our HIGH deductible.

Earlier this month my wife went to the neurologist again, they just notified me that UHC has denied the claim. I checked the UHC site and found that since my wife had Medicare (again PART A only) IT was the primary and they would not pay anything until Medicare paid. This is odd, they never had any issue paying the other doctors visits this year, or last year, or the year before, and the . . .

I entered an appeal. This just chaps my ass that out of the blue they start doing this when they've already paid out claims for years.

The other thing that burns me is that the doctor's payment company just let them know that the bill has 'not been fully paid' And UHC denied it. IT WAS paid, in cash, at the discount rate the insurance company pays - just like I had been doing for years. The doctors payment company did not say how much of the bill was not paid, just that it had not been 'paid in full'. The doctors office called me to tell me this and said I had to get it taken care of before the next scheduled visit or the visit would be cancelled. The stupid part is that the visit is billed at $150 to the insurance company, they usually pay $121.47, which is the discounted price. They never told the doctors office that the amount due is only $28.53 - the difference between the full price and the discount price, just that it was 'not paid'. I just drove over and gave them a check fo $28.53. Hopefully this will satisfy the billing company.

Anyone else getting this same thing? Denied claims for doctors visits because they claim Medicare is primary - even though they don't have PART B Medicare coverage? A friend of mine warned me that all of a sudden they are doing this to him. He is also drawing SS and has Medicare part A ONLY. All of a sudden UHC is denying all their doctors claims, and just started to recently. He told me that at least 2 other people at the company were also having this problem. My guess is that they are pulling this crap across the board because of the issues UHC is having. This really makes little difference to me, only the difference between the full price and the discounted price, that is until and if my wife should need a LOT of doctors care. Because they are denying her claims, none of it goes against our deductible and of course our max out of packet maximum. We are both going on medicare in 2026, and I will for sure not pick UHC's advantage plan.

United Healthcare delayed approving a surgeon for 3 months. Thanks to a response on Reddit telling me what to do, I was able to get it approved. I would love help knowing if anyone has suggestions for getting a denial appealed quickly. Yesterday, they told me the assistant was not needed, coverage for that denied. My surgery is scheduled a week and half from now. They left me with little choice but to pay for it myself. Anyone have advice for quickly getting them to agree to pay?

So my employer has offered me 2 healthcare plans. One is breckpoint and the other is United Health. Breckpoint is a very basic plan and does not make sense for me. However, for United, we’ve been given 3 options under the heritage plan (Base, Mid and High). I need to enroll in a plan by day after tomorrow at max else wait for the open enrollment period that begins end of December.

I am a type 1 diabetic and I use insulin. I wanted to get some information about what tier my current medication falls under and how much my current medication would cost me if I choose one of the 3 united plans. And if there is a cheaper alternative incase it falls in a higher tier.

I have been calling united since the last 2 days and have only been getting pushed around with each department saying that we cannot help you without a member id. How am I supposed to have a member id if I have not enrolled in a plan yet? And this is exactly the reason why I need this information, so I can go ahead and enroll in a plan. I swear to god it is the most basic piece of information I need. They connected me to OptumRx who said that since you are not a member you will have to call TennHealth, who in turn said you will have to call OptumRx since you do not have coverage.

Can someone who has dealt with smth similar please help me out? I feel like I am in a loop. Is there smth I can do? Sorry for the long rant!

I'm a medical assistant at a doctor's office. I've submitted an urgent appeal for a medication that this patient has been on for 8 years that was denied. I called to submit an urgent appeal over the phone like it said I could in the denial letter only to be told I MUST submit it via fax. I sent my appeal via fax to the urgent appeal fax line, meaning they have 72 hours to respond. I called 3 days later to follow up on this appeal. I spent 30 minutes on the phone with a customer service representative that could only tell me that the appeal was received but could not tell me if it has been approved. I was transferred 3 times and given an additional 2 numbers to call. Neither could figure out what had happened. I called back the next day and spent another 40 minutes on the phone being transferred around. I called the patient in tears because I couldn't get an answer out of anyone. I did my part and UHC is making me look like I didn't do shit. The patient was more than understanding and gave me yet another number that he had gotten during his many calls to this souless corporation. I called that number today and I was transferred AGAIN to a FIFTH number where I am currently on hold to speak to a manager. I'm 28 minutes in on this call. FUCK UNITED HEALTHCARE

When shopping for health insurance, I spoke with a United Health representative that went over everything with me. I was told my coverage would include surgeries after I covered the $3000 deductible in-network/$9000 deductible out of network cost. Paid on this policy for almost 6 months. The time came when I did infact need a surgery. The answer I got for a claim was, "oh you're policy doesn't cover surgeries." That's not what my contract says. They respond with, "unfortunately, some sales reps have been misinformed on what is covered and what is not. We will not cover your surgery but you can apply for temporary coverage increase for $1000 plus your monthly premium." I asked how long that process could take as my surgery was scheduled for just 3 weeks out. The very nice lady says, "to be honest....you'll more than likely be denied because you've only been with us for 6 months and the application for increase could sit on someone's desk for weeks before they even touch it." I ultimately ended up canceling my health insurance so I could do self pay just to get my surgery that I NEED and got stuck with a $30,000 bill. United Health sucks so bad.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/prior-authorization-denied-health-insurance-fight-back-rcna226372

We will soon have lost almost all coverage. Endocrinology dropped UHC months ago. Capital Women’s Care dropped UHC 07/31/2025. Johns Hopkins dropping it 08/25/2025. Now University of Maryland is refusing to book autism spectrum appointment for March/April because they are stalled in negotiations with UHC also and soon could drop them.

In my opinion, High member ship growth is something worth looking at from an optimistic point of view.

I worked there and I know the denial drill. It won’t get better. If your employer currently has UHC, or is going out to bid, express to your employee benefits team that you do NOT want UHC as a benefit option. Not medical, not dental, not Optum Rx. Companies with 1/1 renewals are going out to bid NOW. If they hear nothing from employees- they will go with cheapest and/or most comprehensive offer. Same goes with our friends and family members on Medicare Advantage. There are multiple options if you go to Medicare dot gov.

I had a short conversation with UH yesterday attempting to get a loved one admission to short term rehab dur to her frequent falls.

In twenty minutes, I documented twenty seven apologies and expressions of sorrow. I had been speaking with them over the course of several days, and noticed this trend so I actually counted.

At the end of the conversation, I asked them how many times he apolgized and he couldn't tell me.

I told him it was 27, more than once a minute. It seemed his principle job is apolgizing on behalf of the company.

"I know we all have to make a living. My guess is this isn't what you wanted for your life either."

This is my documentation of attempting to track down payments for ONE patient, for 6 services over a period of 3 months. As of this writing, I am hopeful to receive payment for 5 of the 6... I am not sure it is worth the time to try to get the remaining payment. FYI: this patient has a "good commercial plan." In the time it took to complete this cycle, I could have seen 3 adults or 5 children.

At 1:39pm, this Clinician Telephoned UHC Provider Support at 877-842-3210. Was told that this patient has a dedicated customer support number. Immediately upon ending that call, which is at 1:52pm, Telephoned 888-264-0749 as instructed. This call is Ref # NPI: ---DOS: 03/24/2025. This representative also told Clinician to call the phone number 888-264-0749... Clinician stated this is the number that has been dialed and led to this current representative. Representative acknowledged and stated they would transfer Clinician to correct customer service. Representative Norma, reports that check for payment of 3/24/2025 was returned to them on 4/7/2025. Norma also reports that all dates of service have been paid via VCP cards. She suggests calling Network Management at 877-614-0484 to determine what method of payment is established in contract. Then contact Optum Bank and request VCP cards be cancelled and reissued or utilize check/auto deposits. Norma connected Clinician to Network Management. This call was answered by Ice who stated it was not the correct department. Ice gave the same phone number, 877-614-0484, extension 3. Call disconnects and Clinician immediately telephoned this number, at 2:25pm. This call was answered by Elle. Elle suggests that I call 888-264-0749 (again.) Clinician explains that this number has already been called twice and explains that I had been directed to speak with Network Management. Elle states she will transfer me to Network Management now. Mia at Network Management now answers. Clinician shares the process of customer service this day. Mia states this is outside her scope and provides the phone number of claims department 800-888-2998 and Optum Pay 866-248-4094. Mia states she can email a copy of the UHC contract for removed for safety. (The first phone representative of this series had stated that the group NPI is in-network.) Mia then placed Clinician on hold. After approximately 60 seconds, Mia came back to state she is "still checking on the name of the network management for your area." After 3 minutes (per phone timer) Mia reports that the contracts will be sent within 24-48 hours and gives call Ref # 002141850. Call disconnects and Clinician telephones 866-248-4094, Optum Pay per Mia's direction. The time is now 2:46pm. This call is answered by Optum Employee Assistance Program. Clinician chooses option 3, provider "claims and remittances." Clinician repeatedly heard "that date of birth doesn't match our information" in an automated cycle. AI transferred to Violet (a human.) Violet states she is with Optum Claims Department. Violet also states that this patient's "claims are handled by a dedicated customer service team" and the phone number is 888-264-0749. Clinician reports that this phone number has been called 3 times now. Violet offers to connect to a representative that can help. Violet connects Clinician to Christine. Christine gives support phone number, provider express, 866-209-9320 to remove previous service address. Christine offers to enroll Clinician in auto payments. She then suggests calling "e-payment people" after e-payments start "to ask about cancelling VCP cards and having those payments reissued." She then states that "Optum Provider Relations Management can help more with these VCPs." Christine suggests calling 877-614-0484 and asking for a provider relations advocate, or calling 877-614-0484. Clinician has been connected to both of these phone numbers already. Call disconnects at 3:15pm. Clinician immediately calls 877-620-6194 as suggested by Norma and Christine. Clinician was on hold for 11 minutes 19 seconds to be told by representative Klein J that this department, Optum Pay, only handles electronic payments. Klein directs Clinician to card services department at 877-548-0460. Clinician immediately calls the card services department, at 3:26pm and receives the automated message "this phone number is no longer in services. please delete this number and replace it with 866-323-3681." Call disconnects automatically. At 3:28pm, Clinician dials 866-323-3681. Clinician chooses option 4 "all other VCP issues." Call is answered by Jessica, a provider relations advocate. She states that the initial date of service, which was issued by paper check, needs to be "handled by claims." Jessica directs Clinician to contact web support to remove incorrect address on file. Jessica states that she will "opt out VCP payments " and have payments issued as a check and mailed to current address of removed for safety.   She also instructs Clinician to contact UHC webdesk at 888-848-3375 and ask them to remove previous address of removed for safety. Jessica advises to call her again at 866-323-3681, option 4, if check is not received by July 1, 2025. Clinician thanks Jessica profusely. Call ends at 3:44pm.

UPDATE 8/11/2025: Received checks for payments that were made by VCP.

Is there a better way to get support? How do providers manage this? I'm not sure I want to put my group practice through this...

This was my first year on UHC, I’m disabled so I have Medicaid and Medicare. If they were going to drop this type of policy or make dramatic changes, how much notice would they give? 2026 is fast approaching.

I can’t get United Healthcare to approve my in network surgeon. My PCP puts it through many times for two months. Today, I spent an hour waiting after they said it was approved but put me on hold (not approved) customer service never returned. Then, I went on the chat to seek help, wasted more time. They apologized and assured me someone would call back within the hour. 3 hours ago…Worst insurance I’ve ever had. In addition, they now have “empathetic” staff that puts you on hold or says they will call you back within the hour. They never do. Basically, United Healthcare is paying some call center to sound supportive and you still get the same result -denial! Wasted days trying to get things approved.

The individuals I work with are great but I have exactly 0 enthusiasm about doing my job. I've wanted to get laid off for the last 12 months thinking it could be just around the corner and I just keep getting by somehow.

Can you tell me why I shouldn't feel bad about losing my job here? It's the only company I've ever worked for since graduating college.

When their stock drops, they further crank up denials and slow provider payments. If your company (or parent!) is using United, be warned! https://www.tipranks.com/news/unitedhealth-stock-tumbles-baird-sees-another-19-drop-ahead