Written by Angie Ricono and Cindy Ferlander
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Kansas City, Missouri (KCTV) — Claire Benson of Kansas City is halfway through her pregnancy. She is her first baby and she and her husband are excited to become parents.
But Benson, 28, is facing unexpected complications. Her health insurance was suddenly canceled when she tried to update her information.
Mr. Benson purchased insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace.
Benson wanted to update her account to reflect her married name and to file documents. She needed help logging in and she called a 1-800 number and asked for her help.
The navigator on the other end of the phone advised her to review her policy and update her pregnancy information as well.
So Benson clicked “Yes” on the form and revealed her pregnancy.
Benson said, “I was just following instructions. I talked to the person who answered the phone at Marketplace, and I trusted that she would tell me what I needed to know and point me in the right direction.” ” he said.
Benson’s health insurance was immediately terminated.
At the time, Benson was 15 weeks pregnant. She was told that because she was pregnant, she would likely qualify for Medicaid. But that could take several weeks.
“I had to delay or skip genetic testing,” Benson said. “The ultrasound is delayed at the moment. It’s a case of a simple uncomplicated pregnancy.”
Benson was a student and spent hours on the phone trying to fix the mess.
“Once I got off the phone, I almost sobbed on my living room floor,” Benson said.
KCTV5 asked experts for answers. Cary Hall has been an insurance broker for decades.
“There was no reason to cancel,” Hall said. “It shouldn’t have been based on the government’s own guidelines or the government’s own guidelines.”
But correcting such government mistakes is complicated.
“That’s very difficult,” Hall said. “If you’ve ever done business with the government, whether it’s the IRS or Social Security or any of those agencies, it’s very difficult to go back and try to clean up the mess.”
We connected Benson and Hall so she could get information to fight back. She was repulsed by losing her insurance, which she opted for and she became pregnant more than a month later, she notes. She is currently receiving conflicting information about whether and when the policy will be reinstated. She is now going public to warn others.
“This is the reality,” Benson said. “This doesn’t just happen to me. This is the reality for thousands of women across our country. Simply notifying the Marketplace that you’re pregnant can quickly result in your medical and health insurance being terminated. there is.”
What makes this even more frustrating for Benson is that she later learned that answering whether she was pregnant was optional when she applied.
KCTV5 reached out to Marketplace’s media representatives. They declined to discuss individual incidents.
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