What’s it like to work for UnitedHealth as a phone representative for insurance claims? This TikTok video was made by a woman who says she worked for the United subsidiary UMR, and describes what it was like in training and on the job.
The video, from @motherskeepeerdoula2023, goes into detail about denying a hospice claim for a single mother whose partner died of pancreatic cancer, leaving her a stay-at-home mom with five sons. The widow was getting money her late husband had in his 401(k), she says, but that money was garnished to pay for his bills, and UnitedHealth was denying payments.
“They told me every which way to deny this, to get her off of our phone line. It was absolutely despicable,” she says in the TikTok. “But there was one day that I was approved a certain amount of money, and that amount of money is could cover one claim, a big one. Needless to say, I went in, paid it. Then went and told my supervisor that I quit, and I walked out of there.”
She says she quit the job after 9 months. “It was horrible working for them. Horrible management that were out for blood and money,” she writes in the description of the video. She does not mention the killing of the UnitedHealth C.E.O., but it seems the timing of her post may have been influenced by that.
‘Always appeal’
The video got thousands of views and thousands of comments, and is still increasing. One commenter said: “I work in software dev. We coded programs to send a denial letter if certain diags were listed on a claim without a single person looking at it. So always appeal if you get a denial letter.” Other commenters appealed to her to give suggestions on how to appeal.
In a later post, motherskeepeerdoula2023 explained the details of the healthcare organization taking the woman’s money after sending her to collections for unpaid bills, and in another followed up with more details about the industry.
She also said she has not worked in insurance for more than 5 years. Her TikTok page says she is a Columbus, Ohio, doula for birth, postpartum and newborn care.
In a later post, she said she is not able to help individuals with appeals, but she suggested that people appeal any denial four times, then appeal to state elected or regulatory sources.
She added a TikTok about an infant in need of a helmet for helmet therapy to mold the skull as a baby grows. She said the basic helmet was approved but modifications recommended by the doctor and the helmet company were denied. She also pledged to post about LifeFlight, so it seems she will be doing a series.
This appears to be her doula practice page. I emailed her to set up an interview, and commented on TikTok asking for an interview, but she didn’t respond — not surprisingly, since she appears to be swamped with similar requests.
