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Help in communication with insurance company?

Page last modified on: October 10, 2008

Question from Marcella: I'm still covered under my ex-husband's insurance, but all communication with the insurance company has to go through him, and he's not being wonderfully cooperative in helping me. Is there anything I can do?: Answer —Irene Card, insurance expert: First, contact your insurance carrier and ask them to change the address. When you state that you are still covered under your ex-husband’s insurance policy, I am assuming that you are on COBRA. If you are, then it is your insurance and the carrier must honor your request to use your address. If you don’t succeed in getting the address corrected, speak with your attorney immediately. So often when married couples divorce, the woman gets the short end of the stick with health insurance. Benefits can be continued for 36 months under the COBRA law so long as the employer qualifies for COBRA law benefits. It is so important for a woman who is going through a divorce to research what kind of health insurance she can purchase individually and what it will cost, and make sure her attorney understands this fully so that compensation can be included in the divorce settlement. All too often, the woman finds out after it is too late that her premium may be $500 a month, and she may have a very high deductible and be left with major out-of-pocket expenses. In your case, where all communication must go through your ex-husband, it's most important your attorney work out an arrangement with your ex-husband's attorney. I have often seen where the mail will go to the attorney and he/she forwards the mail to the client. This is especially the case when there are extremely hard feelings and no communication between the two former spouses.

On Wednesday, September 19, 2007, our Ask-the-Expert Online Conference was called Working During Treatment. Barbara Hoffman, J.D., Irene Card, and moderator Ruth Oratz, M.D., F.A.C.P. answered your questions about the legal, financial, physical, and emotional aspects of working during breast cancer treatment.

The materials presented in these conferences do not necessarily reflect the views of breastcancer.org. A qualified healthcare professional should be consulted before using any therapeutic product or regimen discussed. All readers should verify all information and data before employing any therapies described here.

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Meet the Experts

Barbara Hoffman, J.D. is a member of the Legal Research and Writing faculty of Rutgers Law School B in Newark and is the founding chair of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship.

Irene Card is president of Medical Insurance Claims, Inc., a health insurance services company in New Jersey, which she founded in 1980. Ms. Card is the former insurance advisor to the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship and Memorial Sloan Kettering Post Treatment Resource Program.

Ruth Oratz, M.D., F.A.C.P. is associate professor of clinical medicine at New York University School of Medicine. She is the founder of The Women's Oncology & Wellness Practice in New York City where she specializes in treating women with breast cancer and other malignancies, as well as women at risk for cancer.