Last year, Erin went in for a routine primary care visit and got a preventative blood test done ordered by her doctor. A few months later, she was hit with a $999 bill for her bloodwork from her insurance provider, Ambetter.
The next seven months were filled with red tape, hang ups, and hours on hold, with no answers about Erin’s bill and the final notices for payment she was receiving. In June, Erin started organizing with the Mental Health Justice Team at ONE Northside to put pressure on Ambetter to reprocess her bill.
We called its customer service line, flooded its social media accounts, and collected over 1,600 petition signatures in support of Erin. Just last week, Ambetter reprocessed Erin’s bill and corrected it to $30!
VICTORY!!! Organizing WORKS! But our fight is long from over.
The for-profit health insurance system is set up to create these outcomes. Corporations like Ambetter systemically put their profit over our care.
On Monday, August 22, 2022, at 8 am in righteous joy and anger, we took over the lobby at Ambetter’s corporate office at 200 E. Randolph and called on Ambetter to DO BETTER and end its practice of denying in-network care to their consumers.
