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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
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    3

    Default Not Notified of Medical Debt Prior to Collections

    My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: South Carolina/Georgia

    I moved to Georgia last year and in December I received a call from a collections agency saying that I owe money from a doctor's visit in South Carolina in Spring 2009. Despite not doing anything spectacular at the visit (I saw a nurse practioner for a cold), I was told that I owed nearly 300 dollars. I told them that there must be a billing error. The calls stopped, so I assumed it had been resolved.
    The calls started again, and they told me that insurance had denied my claim because I was not a full-time student at the time. I knew that could not be right(I was definitely a full time student at the time with the correct documentation with my insurance). So, I drove 2 hrs to the doctor's office(billing there would not return my calls) and they told me that they cannot refile the claim because it had been over a year since the date of service. My insurance company says that they will not pay it because it has been too long since the date of service.
    It seems wrong that I should be forced to pay nearly 300 dollars for a service covered by my insurance that was denied due to error where the doctor's office never notified me of the problem. Instead, they just turned me over to collections after the deadlines for correcting the problem had passed. I cannot seem to find any information for what my options are now that it has already been turned over to collections. I need to resolve the matter soon, as if an unpaid collection is on my credit report this summer, I will be denied gov't student loans.

    What can I do?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Not Notified of Medical Debt Prior to Collections

    When you did not receive an explanation of benefits explaining how the claim was paid and what, if anything, you owed, did you follow up? Or did you just assume that everything was taken care of and that the insurance carrier and doctor's office would handle everything for you and that you need not take any responsibility for seeing that the bill was paid?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    38,867

    Default Re: Not Notified of Medical Debt Prior to Collections

    so, you are saying you never got any bill from the doctors office before this notice from the collection agency? Never got an EOB from your insurance company?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    3

    Default Re: Not Notified of Medical Debt Prior to Collections

    Right. I never received any bill or EOB. I had no idea there was even a problem until Collections starting calling way over a year after the date of service.
    What was strange is that when collections first started calling in December, they thought my father was the patient(he wasn't) and wouldn't even talk to me.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Not Notified of Medical Debt Prior to Collections

    Now answer my question....

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    3

    Default Re: Not Notified of Medical Debt Prior to Collections

    I apologize--I did not see your question.

    Quote Quoting cbg
    View Post
    When you did not receive an explanation of benefits explaining how the claim was paid and what, if anything, you owed, did you follow up? Or did you just assume that everything was taken care of and that the insurance carrier and doctor's office would handle everything for you and that you need not take any responsibility for seeing that the bill was paid?
    My father gets all the insurance stuff, not me. However, if anything was unusual, he would have let me know. He didn't receive any notice of a problem, either.
    I went to the doctor. I paid my co-pay. After that, I went to the doctor again a few months later, and they never mentioned any problem.

    I told collections and the doctor's office that it needed to be refiled. I thought that it was just refiled and that there was no problem because I was not contacted again for a month. I took as much responsibility as I could, since the insurance company will not talk to me as I am not the person who owns the insurance, just his dependent. So no, I do not believe I was irresponsibile. I am not to blame--I do not call the doctors office 6 months after each appointment to make sure my insurance paid, nor do I believe that is a reasonable habit.

    Since collections began contacting me again, I have driven 2 hrs to the doctor's office to be told it cannot be refiled and that I just have to pay. I find it hard to believe that they can choose not to notify me that there was an error with my insurance, then send the bill to collections after it is too late to refile. I just want to know what my current options are.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Not Notified of Medical Debt Prior to Collections

    No, taking as much responsibility as you could would have included making follow up calls when you didn't get anything in the mail telling you that payment had been made instead of assuming that everything must be all right.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    38,867

    Default Re: Not Notified of Medical Debt Prior to Collections

    I find it hard to believe that they can choose not to notify me that there was an error with my insurance,
    there is part of your problem. It's not your insurance but apparently your fathers. Would your father have notified you of an EOB that simply denied payment for some service?


    You can ask your father to get the records concerning that service. Then, ask the doctors office to give you an accounting of the billing of the services. After you have that, you can look at possibilities.

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