Humana cuts frustrated cancer patient check after calling Ted
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Years of illness put Betty Mitchell in a wheelchair and when it got worse, she needed a hospital bed too.
Her Humana insurance was supposed to reimburse her the $1,400 she spent on the bed and wheelchair. She sent the forms and waited.
A few months in, Mitchell told ABC13, "You know, it was one excuse after another."
Months later, she was still waiting.
"They said, 'Oh, we've got everything we need. We've got to tie it all together.' I said, 'Do you want me to send you some ribbon?' At this point I was getting smart a**."
Two months of Mitchell's retirement income is $1,400. While waiting, she had to dip into her reserves to pay her property taxes. More mad than frustrated, she called us and that got a check in the mail.
Mitchell says she was surprised when a customer service agent told her, "Well, we've approved the check for so and so for the bed, and a check for so and so for the wheelchair because you got the media involved."
Humana says federal privacy rules prevent them from saying too much, but told ABC13, "We work diligently with our members to research and resolve their personal situations."
"I just kept believing that it was going to come, and I kept trusting what these people were telling me," Mitchell told us.
She has since switched insurance companies as she continues cancer treatment.
