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Action 9: Couple had trouble getting insurer to pay for vaccines

A couple said they had trouble getting their insurer to pay for vaccines covered by their policy.

Don and Jean Brow, who are both retired, had been battling their insurer since last June over shingles vaccines that cost them $500 each.

The shots, which prevent painful skin rashes, are covered by their Humana policy.

“I questioned when I was in the doctor's office with the nurse there, giving us the shot, ‘Is this going to be reimbursed?’ And she says, ‘Everybody gets reimbursed,’” Don Brow said.

But he said they had no luck getting Humana to pay.

“To our dismay, we found out later on, after six months of going through turn-downs, appeals and everything else, that they weren't going to pay for it,” Don Brow said.

Humana first told the couple that their doctor was out of network.

After they filed a second appeal, Humana then said the pharmacy their doctor used for the vaccines was out of network.

That's something Don Brow, as a patient, said he didn't know to ask about.

Still, he was determined Humana should pay.

“We're tough fighters and probably like a lot of retired people, you know,” he said. “And so we wouldn't give up. We kept fighting and fighting.”

Action 9 took the couple's fight to Humana's home office. That's when a spokesperson said it had decided to pay Don Brow's $500 claim and send Jean Brow a $509 reimbursement check.

Don Brow now says he will take steps to prevent future misunderstandings.

“(I will) double-check everything myself, and then maybe triple-check it,” he said.