Write your Senator!

This is the letter I just sent to Senator Ranzenhofer. If you want to know what medical services will cost and you think your insurance company should tell you before you get stuck with the bill, go to https://www.nysenate.gov/ and click "find my senator" and send them a similar message.

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Good afternoon Senator Ranzenhofer,

I am a nearly life-long resident of Rochester, NY. I, like many others, have a high deductible health insurance plan. Mine is through Excellus. I called Excellus recently to see how much it would cost to go see a particular provider. I had a billing code from the provider, and assumed I'd be able to get an accurate cost estimate. They told me they were not able to tell me what any service costs up-front, and that the only way for me to find out how much I would pay is to have the service and run the claim. I filed a complaint and got a letter back stating "our representatives are contractually unable to quote a cost from our fee schedule". That, I have to say, is backwards, and unethical. There is no product that anyone buys for an unknown and unknowable price, and then be absolutely stuck paying it once they get their bill. I petition you to make or change the New York State law pertinent to the oversight of health insurance companies (because they all do this--Excellus is not unique) to mandate that they share relevant cost information with their members. I understand that their fee schedules may be proprietary, but I am the paying customer, so it cannot be proprietary to me. I look forward to hearing from you that you received my message and would love to further discuss this issue with you or your staff. I am available to come and testify before the NYS Health Committee in Albany as well. Please, hear me, I am not alone in this. This seriously affects the lives of your constituents.

Thank you, Anna Ka