What to do when you receive a denial from your insurance company

ByLopez Island Hospital District

The Lopez Island Hospital District, Lopez Island Fire and EMS (LIFE), and other County-wide leaders  are continuing to work with Kaiser Permanente to resolve questions related to coverage for emergency medical air transport.

As a consumer, if you experience a denial from your insurance company for any covered service, it’s a good idea to contact the Office of the Insurance Commissioner for WA State (OIC).

The Insurance Commissioner’s office answers hundreds of insurance questions every day, and you can easily file a complaint against your insurance company on their website. You can also call the toll-free Insurance Consumer Hotline at 800-562-6900.

What the OIC can do:

  • Send your complaint to the insurance company and require them to provide an explanation for their actions.
  • Send your complaint to the Washington Healthplanfinder and ask them to resolve your concerns.
  • Review the company’s response to make sure they followed Washington state laws and your policy.
  • Tell the company to fix the problem if they didn’t follow the laws or your policy.
  • Try to find patterns of problems that may need further reviewing.
  • Try to help fix your insurance problem or help you and the company communicate with one another.
  • Help you understand your insurance policy.
  • Recommend places you can go for help if we don’t have the legal right to resolve your complaint.

What the OIC can’t do:

  • Act as your lawyer, give you legal advice or be your claims adjuster.
  • Make medical judgments or determine if further treatment is necessary.
  • Make liability decisions or determine who is at fault.
  • Establish the facts surrounding a claim (for example: who is being truthful when there are conflicting reports of the situation).
  • Determine the cause of loss, value of a claim, the amount owed to you, or act as your adjuster.
  • Address issues we can’t legally enforce.
  • Require the Washington Healthplanfinder to comply with state insurance laws as it’s not an insurance company regulated by our office.
  • Tell a company to pay a claim, refund a premium, or reinstate or issue a policy (if they followed the law and your policy).