Insurance companies collect hidden fees while patients receive unexpected bills
Patti Sietz-Honig, a video editor at Fox 5 in New York, filed a complaint in 2022. The cost of seeing a specialist for chronic back pain had skyrocketed, and she faced about $60,000 in bills.Ms. Sietz-Honig pressed for updates on her complaint and submitted articles critical of MultiPlan from Capitol Forum, a site focused on antitrust and regulatory news. Last March, the agency sent her an email informing her that her employer and her insurer, Aetna, had agreed to a “temporary exception” and made additional payments.“Unfortunately,” the agency writes, the law “does not prohibit the use of third-party vendors” to calculate payments.Meanwhile, her longtime pain specialist began requiring advance payment. To save money, Ms. Sietz-Honig spaced out her appointments.“I've been in a lot of ...