Insurance error leaves Litchfield Park woman with $12,000 bill

LITCHFIELD PARK, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — A young woman in Litchfield Park suffers from a medical condition but is thankful that her frequent doctor visits and procedures are covered by insurance. So why is she getting a $12,000 medical bill for something insurance is supposed to cover?

Christy Kwok is a full-time college student and is lucky enough to have a part-time job offering health insurance just in case she needs it. “Anything that happens -- like a car accident -- and having all that medical insurance for bills is really helpful,” she said.

Kwok suffers from a medical condition requiring frequent doctor visits and medication, so having insurance is a lifesaver. Kwok says she was initially insured with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. However, with a job change a year ago, she had to transfer all her information to her new insurance company. “And at that time, I was transferring all of my information and telling doctors and pharmacies, ‘Hey, this is my new insurance,’” she said. “And any bills should now be billed to my new insurance.”

But that didn’t happen. Instead, way back in March of last year, medical bills totaling more than $12,554 were billed to Blue Cross Blue Shield instead of Kwok’s new insurance company. To complicate matters, Blue Cross Blue Shield mistakenly paid the bill. Fast forward 14 months and Blue Cross Blue Shield realized their mistake, and now they’re sending the college student letters demanding she pay them back the $12,000. “It’s really scary because this is something me and my family can’t do,” she said.

In another letter, Blue Cross Blue Shield said if Kwok didn’t pay, they would send the matter to collections. After spending hours and hours on the phone trying to correct the issue, On Your Side got involved and reached out to Blue Cross Blue Shield. The insurance company looked into the matter, realized the mistake and said Kwok will not be responsible for repaying $12,554. It only happened, Kwok says, with the help of On Your Side. “So, I’m really happy that you were able to solve this,” she said. “You were able to solve all of this in less than a week and I’ve been working on it for a month and I couldn’t get anywhere. So, I’m very grateful On Your Side could help me.”

It’s unknown if Blue Cross Blue Shield is forwarding the bill to this viewer’s correct insurance company or if they are simply writing it off. Regardless, this viewer won’t have to pay a dime and she won’t be sent to collections.

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