HTH Worldwide, wheels turn slowly

I filed a small claim with HTH when my son had to visit the ship's doctor during our cruise last month, for an asthma flare up.

I knew I had to have a denial letter from our primary insurance (we got secondary insurance through HTH as this was the only option I saw available to cover pre-existing conditions). Claim was denied by our normal health insurance because the ship's doctor was not a preferred provider or in their network. :rolleyes: It would have covered (they said) an ER visit, apparently they would have preferred the bill to get him there as well. But I digress. I got all the pieces in place, faxed HTH the itemized bill from ship's infirmary, medical records, and our health insurance denial letter. It's been over 6 weeks now.

They keep telling me the claim has been received and "is being processed." Then they say give it another week and call back. Every time I call, it's 10 to 30 minutes being on hold to even speak to someone. Today I told the rep I'm tired of being told it's being processed, I want to know what the hold up is and to speak to a manager. So I need to call before the manager leaves, before 4:30 eastern time. Has anyone else who filed a claim with HTH had to wait months for them to cut a check? Maybe they are good with an overseas emergency or huge airlift bill - I feel like I am getting the runaround and would think twice before using them again.

I'd give the manager one chance to make a promise and meet it (preferably a promise that involves a check in your hands within a week.) After that my next action would be to complain your state insurance commission and make sure you send a copy of the letter (with a cover page explaining why) to the insurance company.

Make sure you quote the following language from the policy:

"All benefits payable under the Plan will be payable immediately upon receipt of due written proof of such loss. Should the Insurer fail to pay the benefits payable under the Plan, the Insurer shall have 15 workings days thereafter within which to mail the Insured Person a letter or notice which states the reasons the Insurer may have for failing to pay the claim, either in whole or in part, and which also gives the Insured Person a written itemization of any documents or other information needed to process the claim or any portions thereof which are not being paid. When all of the listed documents or other information needed to process the claim have been received, the Insurer shall then have 15 working days within which to process and either pay the claim or deny it, in whole or in part, giving the Insured Person the reasons the Insurer may have for denying such claim or any portion thereof."

Summary: They have three working weeks to either pay or deny your claim. Period. This is under their own contract that binds both them and you. The time for excuses is long past.

Since they are already clearly in violation of your policy language, you should be able to get the attention of the insurance commission (or whatever it is called in your state.) Heck, you can still complain even if you do get the check soon since they took so long.

SirWired

I filed a small claim with HTH when my son had to visit the ship's doctor during our cruise last month, for an asthma flare up.

I knew I had to have a denial letter from our primary insurance (we got secondary insurance through HTH as this was the only option I saw available to cover pre-existing conditions). Claim was denied by our normal health insurance because the ship's doctor was not a preferred provider or in their network. :rolleyes: It would have covered (they said) an ER visit, apparently they would have preferred the bill to get him there as well. But I digress. I got all the pieces in place, faxed HTH the itemized bill from ship's infirmary, medical records, and our health insurance denial letter. It's been over 6 weeks now.

 

They keep telling me the claim has been received and "is being processed." Then they say give it another week and call back. Every time I call, it's 10 to 30 minutes being on hold to even speak to someone. Today I told the rep I'm tired of being told it's being processed, I want to know what the hold up is and to speak to a manager. So I need to call before the manager leaves, before 4:30 eastern time. Has anyone else who filed a claim with HTH had to wait months for them to cut a check? Maybe they are good with an overseas emergency or huge airlift bill - I feel like I am getting the runaround and would think twice before using them again.

This is not an excuse because this really should have been handled long ago, but I've found over the years that sometimes these smaller claims often get dragged out more than a large claim would. I think it's because they might get assigned to new and inexperienced claims people -- the insurer wants them to make their rookie mistakes on claims that won't bust the bank. This can mean that where a senior person can just hammer these things out a new person probably has to walk the claim through several layers of supervisors, each of whom is going to go over it with a microscope just on general principles. I'm all in favor of that type of training but even trainees and their supervisors also need to bear in mind that all of this can and should happen without compromising their customer service standards.

You received excellent advice from sirwired, and in your phone call today, inform them that if you don't have the check in hand within five business days, you will be filing a report with your state's department of insurance.

And then you need to follow-up and do so.

You received excellent advice from sirwired, and in your phone call today, inform them that if you don't have the check in hand within five business days, you will be filing a report with your state's department of insurance.

 

And then you need to follow-up and do so.

Besides the phone call, I'd email the same thing to them. Always better to have some written proof of what is going on.

By the way, I was recently helping the daughter of a friend of mine with a situation similar to this although with a different travel insurer. We told them they had 7 days or a complaint was going to be filed with the PA dept of insurance (even faxed to them a copy of the letter that would go out) and they called our bluff. But once they got the phone call from the regulators they couldn't print the check fast enough. A gun to the head can sure focus one's attention sometimes.

Thanks guys, I did get an email today saying that the claim had finally processed and I should have a check "soon." I can only imagine what their definition of soon might be. I will relay that info, on the time frame - I had no idea it was so narrow. It is only a $200 claim, but still. A deal is a deal.

A follow up - called again to ask when I would receive the check. 2 calls, because on the first call I didn't press the button to continue holding quickly enough - and got the automatic boot to voice mail.

The rep at first told me she could not find the claim - then found it under my son's name. The claim finished processing july 13, and the cut the check today. Rep told me checks usually take 10 days until they are mailed. So if all goes according to plan, I should receive the check within 2 weeks.

I have my hands full with health issues for my Dad, among other things so to me it isn't worth it to file a complaint with the Insurance Commission on timelines. But FYI, my experience with HTH has been one of them moving as slowly as possible in paying out on a good claim. They won't be my first choice next time I need to buy trip insurance.

10 days to mail a check? They must use the same processor that sends checks for sketchy mail-in rebates! That is crazy!

I agree that HTH can be crossed off the list of reputable insurance companies if that is how long they routinely take to process straightforward claims.

If you do ever get a chance, in the next month or two, I would still seriously consider dashing off a letter to the insurance commission...

SirWired

Still waiting, and completely fed up. I have wasted hours on the phone, on hold, being transferred around and then booted out of the system (sent to voice mail to leave a message, and then hung up on) when I didn't hit a button quickly enough, for the privilege of continuing to hold.

I filed an online complaint with the washington state insurance commissioner. I think this will get their attention, as I am sick of waiting and this company needs to have some oversight. It is to their advantage to drag their feet and take as long as possible to pay on a good claim. Maybe if they get hit with a significant fine it will tip the scales enough to make timely payment on good claims somewhat of a priority.

Still waiting, and completely fed up. I have wasted hours on the phone, on hold, being transferred around and then booted out of the system (sent to voice mail to leave a message, and then hung up on) when I didn't hit a button quickly enough, for the privilege of continuing to hold.

 

I filed an online complaint with the washington state insurance commissioner. I think this will get their attention, as I am sick of waiting and this company needs to have some oversight. It is to their advantage to drag their feet and take as long as possible to pay on a good claim. Maybe if they get hit with a significant fine it will tip the scales enough to make timely payment on good claims somewhat of a priority.

Good for you. Keep us updated on how this goes.

As a fellow consumer, I will add HTH as a provider to avoid in the future.

Latest news, I called HTH again and thankfully this time I did get through to a rep with almost no hold time. But it goes downhill from there. I was told (again) that the check takes up to 10 days to be cut. This rep said 7 to 10 days. And that the check had to have gone out by july 23. If indeed this is the case, I should have received it around 2 weeks ago. Before I could ask the rep if they would issue another, she said "It is HTH policy that they need to wait 45 days after the first check is processed, before they will issue another." So even though the investigation through the insurance commissioner may take 30 days, it's still a good thing I filed the complaint. Especially since I have my doubts whether the check was ever mailed in the first place. I wish I had wasted less time giving them the benefit of the doubt and just filed the complaint as others advised.

I received the amount of my claim from HTH, because of the claim I filed with the Insurance Commissioner, my little claim was handled by a director of administrative services. They fed-exed the check to me, wrote a letter of apology and offered me $5 to cover any interest I have had to pay on my credit card due to the lengthy delay.

Am I happy? I am relieved I finally was issued the check, but no not happy at all with how they don't abide by the contract terms that they themselves wrote. Had I not met my obligations under contract, you can bet the date my claim would be payed would be NEVER. Yet they can fuss around for months and finally pony up to keep one step ahead of penalties from the Insurance Commissioner.

Here is a copy of the message I sent to the IC's office, after receiving their "I'm happy the case is settled" email.

Dear Ms. Sxxxxxxxx,

It is true they did fed-ex a check to me for the claim, plus offer $5 for the interest I payed on my credit card.

While I am relieved that I did finally receive payment, I do think this company has inexcusable customer service. For the amount of time (both calendar time, but especially personal time that I needed to put into making calls, hold time, checking back and then being put off time and again) $5 is nothing. I don't expect more, but frankly $5 is an insult considering the way my claim was handled. So I will not be contacting Mr. Hxxxxx to say "Oh yes, wonderful, please do send me that $5." It was not included, I am to contact him to request it.

Had I been months late on making payment on my credit card, you can bet I my penalty would be more than $5. There would be late fees, and my interest rate would have soared, to say nothing of the effect on my credit rating. I do hope you will look into the practices of this insurance company, for I am certain this is how they do business, and my case is not unique. It was said the check was mailed to a non-existent address because when I submitted the application for insurance coverage online, the street address was left off. I do see this is correct now. However, I had my complete address on the form I was required to submit in order to file the claim, and any employee with a modicum of intelligence should be able to see that a check issued to a house number with no street listed, is not going to reach the claimant. I also wonder why their program used to make online applications would not have caught this kind of error. How can an address consist of 4 digits in its totality? The ONLY reason I am sitting here with check in hand, is because of the complaint I filed. Otherwise, I would be waiting another 45 days for the check to be reissued - no doubt to the same faulty address.

Here is a company that titrates their customer service and adherence to meeting their obligation to contract terms that they wrote, to the most minimal degree that will keep them out of harms way from the Insurance Commissioner. One more thing, the check was issued to my son, who was not the policy holder nor the one who payed for the trip or the visit to the ship's physician. He has signed it over to me, but months back when I called to request the check be issued in my name - I was assured as the policy holder it would have to be issued to me. This request was also written on the claim form.

Thank you for your help,

Jxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thanks for keeping us updated. Thanks for writing to the Insurance Commissioner.

For my little part of the protest, I hereby promise to not knowingly do business with HTH or any subsidiary of HTH herewith.

Congrats on playing their game and winning.

I'm glad that the IC was able to help... your tax dollars at work!

In any further correspondence with the IC, I would simply emphasize that they absolutely did not hold up their end of the contract, and $5 is a truly inadequate remedy for this blatant violation of the insurance policy. With any luck others will complain, and that should rouse up a more satisfying smackdown.

SirWired

Thanks to all of you for your support and good advice. You all are what makes this such a great message board.