My folks have been with Peter Beeson of "Seattle Insurance Agency" for decades. I've been with them for auto for about 9 years and homeowners for 3 years. It's a small family-run business out of west seattle, although they can obviously cover you anywhere in the area. It's a father and son team, both named Peter, but they refer to themselves as "Number One" and "Number Two" rather than Senior and Junior.

SEATTLE INSURANCE AGENCY, INC.
PO Box 16488
Seattle, WA 98116-0488
206-937-4613
PeterTwo@SeattleInsuranceAgency.com

Oh, most of their policies seem to be through Liberty Northwest (who joined with Safeco two years ago). I've been VERY happy with my coverage, and they took great care of me when I was in an accident a few years ago.

I really like John Norton of American Family Insurance:

American Family Insurance
2232 NW Market St.
Seattle, WA 98107
206.971.7400
jnorton@amfam.com

This is the nature of emergency rooms. Quick-care or your doctors office are much less expensive for non-life-threatening issues.

I have some heart issues and have waited it out rather than going to the ER at Swedish. This isn't especially smart but previous experiences there have been pretty bad and unbelievably expensive for what services were provided. It shouldn't cost over $5000 to hook someone up to a heart monitor and ignore them for several hours.

PLEASE don't take a circular saw to your arm cast.

At least consider using a dremel or a tile-cutting rotary cutter instead. The size of the laserations up your arm are likely to be much less with a smaller blade.

Is that $6500 your out-of-pocket? Most hospitals will negotiate your bills when you can show financial hardship. A friend of mine was able to cut her co-pay cost for a month-long hospital stay in half, and was encouraged to appeal and request a further reduction.

Don't know. Are rates higher for people with heart conditions, epilepsy, narcolepsy, etc?

Did you ask them why they are asking you these questions? If it's for a premium discount, I can't think of a reason they wouldn't be up front about it. If it's not for a premium discount, then decline to answer the question.

I think that's called an insurance Brokerage.
Vern Fonk does that sort of thing for auto - carrying lots of different companies at once.

You might start here
http://www.insurance.wa.gov/publications/life_insurance/life_insurance_guide.pdf

I got Liberty Mutual myself, but YMMV.
http://life-insurance.libertymutual.com/life-insurance-products

As far as screening your calls, that might be a little paranoid - maybe they're calling to offer you a referral discount! If they're calling to gather bio info, you can always 'drive into a tunnel' and hang up.

either they're using it as leverage against future claims that might possibly be related to health/smoking,
OR they are gathering marketing info in order to sell him other (life) insurance.
Maybe both.

Just lie and tell them what they want to hear.

the former makes sense in a underwriting sense, because -for example-- if he's been diagnosed as suicidal and next month drives his car off the aurora bridge and into an apartment, they might have a way to keep from being legally responsible to fully pay claims to the building he lands on. In any case, read the policy fine print carefully -- if there's reference to accidents (or fire damage)not being covered by this policy if he was smoking at the time, you've got your answer.

Eat shit, spammer.

Specifically related to wordsmithing: you may be on the right track with "bad faith." Additionally, if you have a strong claim, a citation to Washington law could add weight to your words.

Some coverage denials may violate the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), RCW 19.86 et seq. Or, an unreasonable denial of coverage may violate the Insurance Fair Conduct Act (IFCA) approved by voters in 2007, RCW 48.30.015.

Both of these acts provide for an award of attorney fees and potential 3x damages to a successful plaintiff. Insurance companies may not risk going to litigation against a strong claim. However, only certain practices fall under the CPA, and IFCA exempts many health insurance providers. Common sense would be to check their applicability to your case before raising the specter of litigation.

Also, as Russ Campbell mentioned, the commissioner's office can be a good source of assistance or information.

Of course, without knowing details of your case, I cannot give you legal advice. However, I hope this helps if you choose to draft a letter.

Contact the Office of the Washington State Insurance Commisioner for assistance. They are the entity charged with consumer protection in dealing with insurance providers, which you clearly need. Don't take them on yourself, make a complaint. Faced with dealing with the folks that decide whether or not they are allowed to do business in this state, you will get much more fair consideration.

http://www.insurance.wa.gov/

I have a question for clarification: is the person who needs the insurance disabled and have they applied for disability insurance from the government? Are you talking about a MedAdvantage type plan or something not connected to Medicare or Medicaid in any way?

These guys are the cheapest option around, and don't give a shit about your credit:

http://tripplanner.kingcounty.gov/

;)

Otherwise, get a scooter or motorcycle. 50+ mpg and low/no insurance needs. Win-win.

If you have PIP coverage on your vehicle, you can turn over all of your medical bills related to this accident to them. PIP is "personal injury protection" and it's meant to pay any accident-related medical costs, even when you're at fault. Usually your PIP coverage will be limited to $10K or $20K, but it doesn't sound like you had much treatment here, so you're likely within that limit.

The advantage of sending bills directly to your insurer to deal with is that your insurance company owes you a duty of good faith & fair dealing, where the other driver's insurer does not. That means they have to be on your side, and if they don't treat you appropriately, you can sue them! So, check with your insurance company to see if you have PIP coverage.

So, as for talking to a lawyer, it would be a good idea to do so before you settle your claim with the at-fault driver. Besides your medical bills, you're also entitled to be reimbursed for other costs, like your mileage for traveling to and from doctor's appointments. And an attorney can help to negotiate a better settlement for pain and suffering - to compensate you for all of the time you've spent at the doctor and activities you haven't been able to do because of your injuries. Also, an attorney can help deal with this billing issue.

That sounds kind of screwy to me. Medical insurance companies pay a "negotiated" amount for any procedure, which can be jaw-droppingly low if the insurance company is especially nefarious (my old insurance regularly paid out a few cents for lab tests). Do auto insurance companies pay the same rates? Or do they pay the amount in toto?

I'd be very curious to find out if the insurance company paid the prevailing negotiated amount for your medical bills, and this provider is now trying to scam you for the rest. I've heard of large medical institutions who try to scam the elderly and otherwise naive people by billing them for whatever Medicare/insurance didn't pay, which is outright illegal. My knee jerk reaction is to take the side of anyone/anything against any insurance company, but I'd still ask some questions about this.

That sucks. When you go to any doctor, you generally need to sign something that says you're responsible for any payments that the insurance doesn't cover. Clearly, these payments are the responsibility of the insurance company, but that won't matter to the provider.

If I were in your shoes, I would be calling the insurance company on a daily basis until they paid the provider. I would also calmly be threatening to sue them and their client. If you are persistent, I suspect they will do the right thing.

You said you closed the claim, which I assume means you signed a form freeing them of any future liability. However, it seems you could make the case that you were deceived into thinking they had paid the bill, when, in fact, they only paid part of it.

Also, what about your insurance company? Do you have any sort of uninsured or underinsured coverage? If your insurance company is responsible for any payment, then THEY will contact the other driver on your behalf.

"The insurance" you mention above as agreeing to pay = the at-fault person's auto insurance, right? Also; Were the police or courts involved in determining who was at fault?

A: Write the provider explaining that the car insurance company or the individuals insured for the accident will be responsible for any balance remaining. Hopefully you have their address & name from when you took their insurance info? Pass this name and address on to the provider.
(if not, and you only have the name, there are online tools to get the address)

You're not ultimately screwed - in the very worst case scenario you can sue the at-fault person for the costs, as long as they aren't 5 digit costs. Certainly, you should get a lawyer or sign up for the free legal clinic with KCBA.