I went to NYU langone raadiology lab (its inside hospital) for a ultrasound before the ultrasound i looked up the cpt code on the bcbs website and it gave me an amount allowed of like 200$ before deductions, and i was okay with that now i got the bill, and the amount allowed is like 900$ i called the insurance and they said its because the lab billed under the lab but not the doctor itself -- the amount estimated on the website is under a doctor . bcbs does not know what is the amount allowed under the "lab" i dont know if this is normal, but it was my first ultrasound and i dont know what to do. if i ask nyu langone to bill under a doctor will they do that? it was just intern/PA that did my ultrasound so does that even count? what should i do in this case?

My girlfriend received a collection letter last month about an outstanding AllState Insurance bill she does not believe she owes. Following my advice, we sent a debt validation letter to the collector, using a template we found on the cfpb (consumer financial protection bureau) website. The response from the collector did not make much sense to us. They essentially said "we need more information from you to provide the info you asked for. You also didn't provide any info to dispute the debt"....which is not what we were trying to do. Does this response mean they do not have the information to validate the debt? Or did the template we used not do what we expected? Is the next step to file a complaint with the cfpb as [this](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/what-information-does-a-debt-collector-have-to-give-me-about-the-debt-en-331/) page suggests, or do we just ignore this and go on our way? By the way, this isn't affecting her credit yet. **First two images are the validation letter we sent. The last image is their response:** https://imgur.com/a/EWyOVfO

HI, guys! I never posted on Reddit, need your advice badly...A few years ago I signed up with Merrill Edge IRA, because I was with Bank of America. They were very pursvasive how great it is to have 401K with them. I rolled over some 401K money from my previous jobs, opned account. In the beginning I was contributing certain amount per month automatically, then started to get calls about needing to login, verufy my info ect. I called them last year and verified, my info is correct (home address and work address). I was filing taxes this year and tax person asked me if I contributed to my personal IRA, because it would help with my return. I decided to verify with Merrill Edge, loged in to my account and the nightmare started. I found out YESTERDAY they CLOSED my account back in January this year (no notification received), and issued a check with all my savings also hit me with early withdraw fine. They send check to my WORK instead of home address (???). Mind you my work is a large hospital, and address was provided as a generic, not addressed to accounting, HR, or specific person. When I called Merrill Edge, they first said they will cancel the payment on this check and will issue another. Next phone called I was told by Merrill my check was "cashed" at PNC bank (I have no account there), on certain date in March this year. By WHO???? My guess would be someone opened a letter from them at my work, saw the check and somehow chased/deposited it. But how this person could do this without ID? I dont even know what particular branch of PNC it was cashed, and PNC doesnt want to talk to me. I am shocked...It was substantial amount of money, I dont even know what to begin with. Lawer? Police? Pls help with advise!!

Never use Healthy Paws Pet Insurance. Period. I’ve been with this company for eight years. In that time, I’ve filed maybe one or two claims, receiving around $400 total in reimbursements. Meanwhile, I’ve been paying monthly premiums that started around $50–$60, gradually increased to $80, and just this week, jumped to $200 per month for both my cats. One cat’s premium alone went from $50 to $125 overnight. That is completely outrageous — especially considering both of my cats are in perfect health, no chronic conditions, and have had regular checkups, blood work, and clean bills of health. When I called Healthy Paws to ask what on earth is going on, the rep could not have cared less. There was no concern, no explanation that made sense, and zero willingness to help. It was clear: they’re just taking money from loyal customers who rarely file claims, and they don’t care. Over the past 7–8 years, I’ve thrown away nearly $7,000 for what? To be blindsided with a 150% rate increase and treated like a number when I asked for help? This company is unethical, greedy, and not here for pet owners. If you’re shopping for pet insurance, I beg you: do not go with Healthy Paws. They do not deserve your business, and they certainly don’t deserve your

I'm filing taxes for the year 2024 and I found out we had marketplace coverage that we didn't know we had. In 2023 my wife began the process of applying for marketplace coverage, but during the process told them she was no longer interested and that she wanted to cancel her application and for them to delete her information. We have now found out that they did not do that and instead completed the application and we were enrolled for the first 3 months of 2024 before my employer health insurance cancelled it. Is there literally anything that I can do? It doesn't seem right that we ended up enrolled for something my wife cancelled midway through the application process. For context, the reason she wanted to cancel was because the representative felt hostile and she had almost fallen prey to a handful of scams, and he kept rushing her to give him her personal information so he could finish. She felt his tone was more in line with scammers rushing marks to get the payoff and tried to terminate the interaction and the application immediately.

I have an emotional support dog and he helps support me with my panic disorder everyday!! I know some people think dog insurance is a joke, but I’m disabled (for physical reasons) and want to be more prepared/protected with pet insurance so I won’t be stuck with a giant bill with a budget income. (Yes, I understand you have to pay it all upfront at the first before you see any money back from insurance.) Would love to hear some decently priced options for mostly full coverage! I have MetLife, but thought I’d ask for recommendations before I switch because $90/month isn’t exactly budget friendly for me 😕 Thanks for making it this far!! 😎👍🏻

I have had a policy with lemonade for nearly 2 years now. They have been pretty decent about instantly approving a claim but my first one was denied a year ago due to a preexisting condition they swore up and down was listed in my dog’s history, that wasn’t. After a denial and appeal, it was still denied. I ended up dropping the fight with them on it. Now, my dog has a cyst that is needing removal now, but was discovered before I put him on insurance but the vet has deemed it needing to be removed now - then, they weren’t worried about it. It is mentioned in his health history with the vet, so I fear they will label this a preexisting condition as well. But lemonade told me via phone that they would do a reapproval, but after sending in the estimate - I was met with this.. can someone help me understand why the value of the estimate matters more than the type of service requested to be approved? The estimate is $1,306. I’m so PO rn. The estimate literally says it is for a surgery. I would understand if it was a normal appointment and under 3.5k.. Like I literally do not have the funds to do the surgery without knowing I won’t get reimbursed. Is this normal with other carriers?? 🙃

Homesite Insurance I bought my condo five years ago and have Homesite Insurance (according to my recent research, this is not good…). I just filed a claim with them about what my plumber suspects is a faulty toilet wax ring which has caused water damage in the condo unit below mine. Chances are my bathroom will be out of commission for a bit. My question is this: has any one had at least a neutral experience with Homesite? Any tips on how to make sure they do what they’re supposed to? I’m doing my part by brushing up on my insurance policy. Any advice on how to avoid delays is greatly appreciated! I guess I’m just looking for a little hope, lol. Thank you!

Hi all, I'm leaving my current job and I have another position that pays higher than where I'm at right now, but no employee health plan. I'm in CA. Right now I'm looking at marketplace plans for my spouse (33M) and I (31F). We don't use much when it comes to health care. A few random visits here and there, I take a few daily mental health meds but that's it. However, we do want to start a family in the next year so I'm trying to keep that in mind. I've always been on an employer PPO, so that's what I'm used to. My top options currently are Blue Shield of CA PPO, or Kaiser Gold HMO. From what I've seen blue shield is one of the few companies that will offer PPO on the marketplace. I've looked at some of the cheaper plans through multiple companies but since most of them have coinsurance, I worry I could rack up quite a bit if I were to get pregnant/deliver. We earn too much to qualify for financial help/ACA plans as well. Here's my question - how much does Kaiser's HMO plans differ from their PPO? Is it really a big difference since it's all in one system? I know there are issues with Kaiser and it seems people either love it or hate it. But it seems like their HMO plan is cheaper with better coverage (particularly for maternity) than a similar PPO through blue shield. Anything I'm missing here? Any advise or prior experiences would be helpful.

Just sharing an experience that may be helpful to others. I signed upon or Trupanion about 4 years about based upon Wirecutter's review at the time saying that their increases over time were modest and product was good. When I got my puppy four years ago, the rate was $70 month. Fast forward three and a half years and my rates were $103 ( not too modest in my opinion). I just got an email saying that my rates were going from $103 to $135. That's an astronomical increase in my opinion. It got me wondering what Im going to be paying when my dog is 11 years old and he may need the insurance, $300/month? More?I decided it was no longer for me and I wanted to cancel. Customer service was relatively good till this point. But when I wanted to cancel they made it EXTREMELY difficult. I could find nowhere on the website to cancel until finally finding some back alley link that said I had to call them on the phone to cancel. Annoying... shady... but fine. I called them and waited on hold for five mins for someone to take my info. They did, then they said they had to transfer me to the cancelation department. Shock and surprise it was a 20 minute wait. When I got the agent on the phone, they needed to take all the same info again, and then I was forced to sit through a 15 minute scripted summary of why my cancellation was a bad idea and why their rate hike was justified rather than them just taking my info and cancelling the subscription. They told me if I hung up and didn't listen to the whole spiel my insurance would not be cancelled. The whole thing felt like a forced captivity last ditch effort sales pitch to keep me, rather than facilitating what it was I called to do. Really disappointing customer service. To not have an online option to cancel in today's day and age is egregious. Forcing people to to listen to a sales pitch is customer relations malpractice.