Insurance advocates handle the thorny billing issues with health insurance.
There are times when you need someone to untangle the health insurance billing knot for you or a loved one. While there may state resources like HICAP that will offer you suggestions, you may need someone to be hands in resolving the issues. That is when an insurance advocate can help.
From your kitchen table to their desk
While insurance counseling advocates tend to lean towards Medicare issues, their expertise can apply to individual, family and group plan billing issues as well. A good insurance advocate will tackle the tough bureaucratic issues like negotiation of fees, appeal denied claims and sort out which bills need to be paid.
Who has time to handle a claim denial?
A variety of folks turn to insurance advocates to resolve those thorny issues such as children of aging parents, seniors, attorneys, CPA’s, guardians and trustees. Once you have a relationship established with an insurance advocate they can help make important decisions with Medicare Advantage and Supplement plans, Part D plans, and long term care insurance.
A professional insurance advocate will not sell insurance. They charge a fee per hour to resolve the issue or consult on alternatives. I recently had a great meeting with Pat Johnson of Pat’s Medical Insurance Counseling in Lincoln, CA, on all the services a good insurance advocate provides.
Take the hype out of marketing: compare
It was fun to meet Pat and see that we were on the same page when it came to selecting from the variety of Medicare options available to seniors. Her passion for taking the client’s problem and making it her’s to fix was evident. Similarly, we both agreed that, as tiresome as it may be, it is important to comparison shop between plans and benefits.
Honest and passionate, a good combination
In a time when most of the people we meet are focused on making a sale, it was relaxing to have a conversation with Pat on how to help people. A limited internet search didn’t bring up any insurance advocates or organizations that were truly independent that I felt comfortable passing along as a link. If you know of any other fee based hands-on insurance advocates in other parts of the country, let me know and I will post the link. Otherwise, if you are in Northern California, check out Pat’s website to see if she might be able to assist you or someone you know that needs an insurance advocate.