ROCHESTER, N.Y. – An 86-year-old Marine Corps veteran from Kodak is facing a stack of letters from United Healthcare, the largest health insurance company in America, telling him he owes thousands of dollars. Despite the fact the letters indicate money owed in nine different months over two years, all but one of the letters are dated March, 4, 2025 and they all arrived within two weeks this month.

“So my dad is 86. He’s a lifer from Kodak. He’s a marine,” said Mandy Hartman, whose father received the lump of insurance denial letters.

Hartman says her dad Robert is an older American trying to make his way on a fixed budget.

Berkeley Brean, News10NBC: “So there are all the bills that started coming, right? A stack of them here. How did it bother him?”

Mandy Hartman: “Being an older person on Medicare and Medicaid and being on a fixed income, to see these kinds of bills coming in thinking, I don’t have the money to pay this. What’s going to happen to me?”

The letters say they’re from United Healthcare. They’re a “NOTICE OF DENIAL OF PAYMENT.” They all list the first day of the month, from June 1, 2023 to July 1, 2024, with the total amount owed adding up to more than $19,000. But all but one of the letters are dated the same day: March 4, 2025. That’s when Hartman called Brean.

Berkeley Brean: “So what do you think is going on here?”

Mandy Hartman: “I don’t know. My concern is, and maybe it’s legit. I doubt it. But my concern is that these bills are going out and the least expensive one for my dad is $1,993.50 and I think they’re going to people in hopes that they’re going to pay it, thinking they were denied and they’re going to pay it.”

And then there’s the customer service number on the letters. When Brean called it, an automated message said, “You have reached Koopers Incorporated. We are in no way related to the health care industry and do not know why our number is on the letter you received.”

Brean reached Koppers’ vice president in Washington D.C., who said they’re a wood-making company for railroads.

Berkeley Brean: “How do you think your phone number got on those letters?”

Kevin Washington, Koopers Inc.: “We have no idea how our phone number would have been used. We don’t even have operations in your area. So it is a complete mystery to us.”

Mandy Hartman: “It’s got to be bad if a company starts their message out not with ‘hey, we’re the best’ but ‘it’s not us!'”

Hartman says her dad was a United Healthcare client until this year. She called United Healthcare as soon as she found the stack of letters.

Berkeley Brean: “They said your dad owes nothing?”

Mandy Hartman: “No, he owed absolutely nothing to them.”

Koppers says they found complaints about the phone number going back to November. Inside the letters, there is another customer service number that takes you to an online moving company. The state says it hasn’t received one complaint yet about these letters.

Tuesday evening, Brean received an email from someone who said they work for United Healthcare. Heather Soule wrote, “I wanted to let you know use of the incorrect number has been fixed. If a member received a letter with this incorrect number and they need assistance they should call the number on the back of their card. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Soule did not address the validity of the letters and why the insurance would send a Medicare and Medicaid recipient nine denial of payment notices totaling more than $19,000 in the span of two weeks.

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