Story Created:
Aug 8, 2008
Story Updated:
Aug 9, 2008
I-Team Follow Up: Insurance Shocker
Aaron Diamant
Katie DeLong
An I-Team follow up: his insurance company canceled his coverage without telling him. Now, more bad news.
Back in May, we told you about Dan Szerbowski of West Bend -- a cancer patient stuck with six figure medical debt, because his boss bounced a check. After looking into Szerbowski's case, one state agency says it's hands are tied and can't help.
Still, less than a year after doctors diagnosed him with colon cancer, Dan Szerbowski is back at work fixing floors -- this time, for himself.
"Things are good right now except for this monkey on my back," Szerbowski said.
That money: the more than $130,000 in medical bills he's stuck with after United Healthcare canceled his coverage.
"I got a pretty crappy deal out of this," Szerbowski lamented.
Two months before Szerbowski got sick, his former Newburg Tile boss, Howard Bruss, bounced the check he wrote to secure the policy and didn't tell a soul. A crummy thing to do, but apparently not illegal according to the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance.
In an email to the I-Team, OCI Public Information Officer, Mikaela Reck, wrote, "Our office has limited authority to resolve complaints when there has been no apparent violation of the Wisconsin insurance laws. I completely understand and appreciate the frustration of Mr. Szerbowski, and we wish we could help further."
"It can't end here, because I'm not sitting here with these bills," Szerbowski said.
Those bills that used to be a hundred-grand higher. After our first story aired, donations came pouring in and a few doctors cut him a break.
"I thank God for that," Szerbowski said, "But I'm also upset in the same breath, because they did a service, they should get paid for that. They shouldn't have to write it off."
Szerbowski plans to go after his ex-boss for the cash. He wants to sue for breach of contract, since his boss promised to provide health care coverage for employees. But so far, Szerbowski hasn't found an attorney willing to take his case.