Hi, my medical insurance is APWU cigna with mental health being covered by Value Options. It's listed on the back of the card.
I began seeing a therapist for the first time a little more than 3 weeks ago. Before I saw her, I asked if she accepted APWU cigna and she said she did which was true when I checked with APWU. However, because it was a therapist, it falls under mental health and doesn't concern APWU at all but Value Options.
After 3 weeks of going to her, I decided that I would see another therapist because I just didn't feel right with this one. I recieved an e-mail from her saying that APWU has nothing to do with covering this because it is not mental health and she is not a provider until Value Options and now I would have to pay out of pocket for this.
I felt frustrated after getting this e-mail for several reasons.
-I was notified about this 3 weeks after seeing her. Couldn't she have found out that APWU doesn't cover me before that?
-What is the point of telling me that she accepts APWU cigna if seeing her will never fall under cigna's plan but Value Options because seeing a therapist is mental health. There is no point in even saying you accept APWU cigna as a plan because cigna does not handle mental health.
-I am brand new to medical insurance so I understand if people say that I could have checked with the medical insurance, called them and verified that she was covered, but the thing is, I called APWU about seeing a therapist, and they verified that this therapist was under APWU. However, noone referred me to value options even after they were told it was a therapist. Obviously a therapist is for mental health, so how did the doctor nor APWU not refer me to the right department.
I just find this incredibly frustrating because these are two parties that have much more experience than me in this area, and neither of them pointed this out.
I plan on appealing this, and I was looking for other people's thoughts about this and ideas how I can fight this so I can get some reimbursement out of this.
I began seeing a therapist for the first time a little more than 3 weeks ago. Before I saw her, I asked if she accepted APWU cigna and she said she did which was true when I checked with APWU. However, because it was a therapist, it falls under mental health and doesn't concern APWU at all but Value Options.
After 3 weeks of going to her, I decided that I would see another therapist because I just didn't feel right with this one. I recieved an e-mail from her saying that APWU has nothing to do with covering this because it is not mental health and she is not a provider until Value Options and now I would have to pay out of pocket for this.
I felt frustrated after getting this e-mail for several reasons.
-I was notified about this 3 weeks after seeing her. Couldn't she have found out that APWU doesn't cover me before that?
-What is the point of telling me that she accepts APWU cigna if seeing her will never fall under cigna's plan but Value Options because seeing a therapist is mental health. There is no point in even saying you accept APWU cigna as a plan because cigna does not handle mental health.
-I am brand new to medical insurance so I understand if people say that I could have checked with the medical insurance, called them and verified that she was covered, but the thing is, I called APWU about seeing a therapist, and they verified that this therapist was under APWU. However, noone referred me to value options even after they were told it was a therapist. Obviously a therapist is for mental health, so how did the doctor nor APWU not refer me to the right department.
I just find this incredibly frustrating because these are two parties that have much more experience than me in this area, and neither of them pointed this out.
I plan on appealing this, and I was looking for other people's thoughts about this and ideas how I can fight this so I can get some reimbursement out of this.
