Billed for My Daughter's Emergency Medical Care
My question involves an injury that occurred in the state of:California
My daughter was hit by a car when she was 17yrs old, I hired a lawyer and he was supposed to help cover her medical expenses. She was under Medical coverage at the time. After my daughter received her settlement she was an adult 18yrs old, by that time she waived the rights for me to follow up on the case. After a year I received the ambulance and therapy bills under my name. They are asking me to pay the outstanding bills or it will be sent to collection. My daughter received her settlement she left my home and has not communicated with me. I am unaware if I have to pay those bills. I did not receive any money from either the lawyer or my daughter. The Lawyer told me theses bills should be paid by medical.
Re: My 17yr Old Daughter Case
And when you submitted the bills to "medical" what happened?
Re: My 17yr Old Daughter Case
You were likely the guarantor of your minor child's medical bills so, yes, you do have to pay them.
Whether you get reimbursed by the medical insurance company is between you and the medical insurance company.
Trust me on one thing, though, you do not want this getting turned over to a collection agency.
If you have to pay to avoid that, do it, and then deal with the medical insurance company.
Re: Billed for My Daughter's Emergency Medical Care
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Quoting
jcastro
I hired a lawyer and he was supposed to help cover her medical expenses.
Your lawyer doesn't pay your bills for you, unless you give him the money to pay them. Four possibilities come to mind: There was no recovery; there was a recovery but it was insufficient to cover all of the bills; the lawyer paid the bills from providers who had asserted liens, but had no way of knowing about or paying these providers as they were not known to him; or the settlement was paid out and you/your daughter chose not to pay the bills out of the settlement.
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Quoting jcastro
She was under Medical coverage at the time.
You mean, Medi-Cal? Why didn't they cover the bills?
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Quoting jcastro
After my daughter received her settlement she was an adult 18yrs old, by that time she waived the rights for me to follow up on the case.
Ah... so it's a case where your daughter decided to take the money and run rather than paying her bills.
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Quoting jcastro
After a year I received the ambulance and therapy bills under my name.
Again, why weren't these bills paid by your daughter's medical (Med-Cal?) coverage? Why didn't these providers have insurance information or, if they did, why didn't they pursue claims? When you submitted the bills to the medical (Medi-Cal?) insurance provider, what did they say?