Colin and Lindsay Hanson moved to Arizona in 2020 for a better life after Colin’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis made the cold weather of Michigan unlivable.
“Even a small walk from car to office it was pretty challenging,” Colin said. “I was getting pretty shaky.”
The couple found covered care at Dignity Health in Arizona even after their insurance changed when Colin took a new job.
“I prefaced everything by calling them prior let them know, ‘I have a new job and new insurance,’ so when I came in they scanned my insurance card and no one ever thought the wiser at that point,” Colin said.
That was in June of 2022. Colin went back every 29 days for his infusion treatment. Then in October, they were told Dignity Health was out of network.
“What we were faced initially when the problem came to our mailbox, even though it had been going on for probably five months prior to us being made aware, we were faced with about $100,000 of medical bills,” Lindsay remembered.
Out of pocket, Colin’s treatments cost $20,000 a month.
“That’s why we have insurance,” Lindsay said. “That’s why we pay our premiums. It’s frustrating cause we feel like we, like we feel like we’ve done our part as the patient and the patient’s family because we make sure we check all the boxes and do the right thing and somehow in the end we’re still the ones literally paying for this”
Even with in-network treatment, they budget to pay $6,000 or $7,000 out of pocket each year.
“Throughout fighting over last eight months, the insurance company and provider have somehow negotiated something in the background to bring that $100,000 down to $14,000,” Lindsay said. “But it's still twice as much as we would normally pay for a full year.”
When reached for comment, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona said they would look into the matter.
Colin and Lindsay say this fight has taken up most of their free time, Lindsay has taken hours away from work to try to find a solution.
“Whenever we’re out of work it's all we talk about. What did we learn today? Who did we talk to today? Where are we at today,” Colin said.
They say they’ll continue to fight until they see accountability.
“Make the calls. Don’t give up,” Colin advised anyone going through a similar situation.
“It’s definitely exhausting but they don’t make it easy for you to make it right,” Lindsay said.
ABC15 attempted to get a statement from Dignity Health for this story but have not heard back.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Lindsay and Colin pay for the medical expenses.
