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Medical Debt from Laboratory in California

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  • 09-24-2013, 03:25 PM
    CANeedHelp
    Medical Debt from Laboratory in California
    My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: California

    To my shock I recently received a letter from a colletions agency regarding a laboratory billing from over 18 months ago (in 2012). I was completely unaware of such services until I received the collections letter. To date, I had never received a bill from this particular lab. Since this was a lab they never communicated directly with me, and only communicated with the referring doctor.

    After speaking with the collections firm, they communicated that the lab had billed my insurance company and was told that I was not a eligible member at the time of service. They also confirmed that they had the correct address. I even have a copy of a statement from the lab about one month later that I did actually receive that made no reference to this claimed service. After that call I contacted my insurance company, which claims they never received any such claim submission for that particular date of claimed service. The lab had a really old policy number in their files, so it sounds like they neglected to confirm the information with the referring doctor office to obtain the then current insurance information. The referring doctor had the correct information and properly submitted the claims and was paid a long time ago.

    When the insurance company tried to follow up with the provider they had no information related to the claim since it had already been sent to collections. The insurance company is telling me to submit the claim myself to the insurance company. It's fine with me to submit the claim myself. My concern is over my credit not being impacted by something that was of no control of mine. The provider is an in-network provider within my insurance. For 2012 I had reached my deductible and out of pocket maximum within my insurance policy. So I'm sure that the claim would be paid in full by the insuranc policy. My next concern is that the billing would be contractually reduced based on the provider contract with the insurance company and how that will be impacted with a collections agency involved now. On top of that issue would then be the fees and interest being charged by the collections firm.

    I have already sent a dispute to the collections firm. I have also sent two unanswered letters to the lab trying to address this issue.

    What should I do regarding this collections account?

    On the insurance claim submission form, should I have the payment sent to the provider or should I request it to be sent to me?

    How do I make sure this doesn't impact my credit at all?

    I can see major issues on the collection company side, since I never even knew of such provided service, no communication was ever directly with me, no billing was ever received, nor was any agreement directly with me.

    Thanks in advance for the help.
  • 09-24-2013, 03:30 PM
    Antigone
    Re: Medical Debt from Laboratory in California
    Quote:

    Quoting CANeedHelp
    View Post
    My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: California

    To my shock I recently received a letter from a colletions agency regarding a laboratory billing from over 18 months ago (in 2012). I was completely unaware of such services until I received the collections letter. To date, I had never received a bill from this particular lab. Since this was a lab they never communicated directly with me, and only communicated with the referring doctor.

    After speaking with the collections firm, they communicated that the lab had billed my insurance company and was told that I was not a eligible member at the time of service. They also confirmed that they had the correct address. I even have a copy of a statement from the lab about one month later that I did actually receive that made no reference to this claimed service. After that call I contacted my insurance company, which claims they never received any such claim submission for that particular date of claimed service. The lab had a really old policy number in their files, so it sounds like they neglected to confirm the information with the referring doctor office to obtain the then current insurance information. The referring doctor had the correct information and properly submitted the claims and was paid a long time ago.

    When the insurance company tried to follow up with the provider they had no information related to the claim since it had already been sent to collections. The insurance company is telling me to submit the claim myself to the insurance company. It's fine with me to submit the claim myself. My concern is over my credit not being impacted by something that was of no control of mine. The provider is an in-network provider within my insurance. For 2012 I had reached my deductible and out of pocket maximum within my insurance policy. So I'm sure that the claim would be paid in full by the insuranc policy. My next concern is that the billing would be contractually reduced based on the provider contract with the insurance company and how that will be impacted with a collections agency involved now. On top of that issue would then be the fees and interest being charged by the collections firm.

    I have already sent a dispute to the collections firm. I have also sent two unanswered letters to the lab trying to address this issue.

    What should I do regarding this collections account?

    On the insurance claim submission form, should I have the payment sent to the provider or should I request it to be sent to me?

    How do I make sure this doesn't impact my credit at all?

    I can see major issues on the collection company side, since I never even knew of such provided service, no communication was ever directly with me, no billing was ever received, nor was any agreement directly with me.

    Thanks in advance for the help.

    So are you saying you never recevied the services the lab is billing your for?
  • 09-24-2013, 03:42 PM
    CANeedHelp
    Re: Medical Debt from Laboratory in California
    I'm not positive. I have called the doctor's office and awaiting a confirmation. Thus far, I actually assume they performed the services and provided the informaiton to my doctor.

    - - - Updated - - -

    I haven't been able to get the lab to respond to inquiries. Which I would think would be a validation of debt issue, since the provider isn't allowing me to validate independently of the collections agency.
  • 09-24-2013, 03:43 PM
    Antigone
    Re: Medical Debt from Laboratory in California
    Quote:

    Quoting CANeedHelp
    View Post
    I'm not positive. I have called the doctor's office and awaiting a confirmation. Thus far, I actually assume they performed the services and provided the informaiton to my doctor.

    - - - Updated - - -

    I haven't been able to get the lab to respond to inquiries. Which I would think would be a validation of debt issue, since the provider isn't allowing me to validate independently of the collections agency.

    If they in fact performed the services, be ready to pay the bill.
  • 09-24-2013, 04:00 PM
    CANeedHelp
    Re: Medical Debt from Laboratory in California
    I'm willing to pay the in-network provider amount for the services, assuming they were performed. Should I have the insurance pay me or the provider at this point? I will wind up getting an explanation of benefits regardless.

    I just want to make sure this doesn't impact my credit, nor am I willing to pay more then what the insurance would normally agree to pay as they are an in-network provider. It's unfortunate they never actually mailed the billing to me or they would have been paid a long time ago.
  • 09-24-2013, 04:09 PM
    Antigone
    Re: Medical Debt from Laboratory in California
    Quote:

    Quoting CANeedHelp
    View Post
    I'm willing to pay the in-network provider amount for the services, assuming they were performed. Should I have the insurance pay me or the provider at this point? I will wind up getting an explanation of benefits regardless.

    I just want to make sure this doesn't impact my credit, nor am I willing to pay more then what the insurance would normally agree to pay as they are an in-network provider. It's unfortunate they never actually mailed the billing to me or they would have been paid a long time ago.

    Good luck billing your insurance, that ship may have sailed. You may be able to negotiate with the CA but they do not have to discount the bill for you at this time.

    I know how you feel with regards to the lateness of this bill but if you don't want it to affect your credit any further, you are going to have to handle it quickly.
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