Tracey Fucci is outraged that she can’t convince United Healthcare/Harvard Pilgrim to pay for immunoglobulin therapy for her 21-year-old daughter, who suffers from a debilitating nerve disease, while Manhattan podiatrist Suzanne Levine got $175,098 for two simple, half-hour office procedures.
“I’m appalled,” said Fucci, 56, of Needham, Mass. “They want to fix someone’s hammer toes for $180,000 — that’s ridiculous!”
Levine billed United Healthcare/Oxford fees of $86,450 per toe, The Post reported last week. And the insurance company shockingly paid most of the claim, with interest.
A longtime insurance-industry executive said savvy doctors know how to work the system and to get the highest insurance payments for out-of-network charges.
When confronted by The Post, Levine’s office manager said the claim had been sent to United Healthcare by mistake and that she later sent a revised claim.
But a United Healthcare spokesman said the company had received no such corrected claim. After learning of the payment from The Post, the insurer said it was stopping payment on the check, calling the charges “beyond egregious.” The company launched an investigation.
Neither Levine nor her spokesman responded to requests for comment.