My question involves public health law in the State of: Montana/Indian Reservation
I had to go to the ER while on a roadtrip trough montana and I ended up at the Crow Agency indian reservation. I remember giving them my insurance card, but my insurance said they never got a bill. I never received a bill from them either. Finally, I got a debt collection notice from the US treasury. It says I have to pay the bill that started at about $900 and is now up to $1500 with interest, late fees etc. I called the US treasury and they said they could not help me, but I should call the Indian hospital to ask them if they could give me financial aid or something.
I called the indian hospital and told them to send me my medical records and a copy of the bill, plus the dates and addresses that they sent it to. When I received these documents, I noticed that the address was incorrect and they sent about 3 notices to only this wrong address. Then somehow it got into the US treasury's hands and they seem to have found my correct address immediately.
Currently I am unemployed and am on medicaid, but I wasn't on medicaid at the time I went to the hospital. They are trying to garnish my wages, but since I am unemployed, I cannot pay anything and the interest keep getting higher. I would have just paid the bill or had my insurance pay for it if they had sent the bill to either my insurance or the correct address, but now I cannot because it is too much and only getting to be more.
I believe that it is not fair that I never received a bill. How can I fight this case? Should I simply ask the Indian hospital to tell the US treasury that they no longer want to collect the debt because they billed the wrong address and then just bill me again directly for the starting amount? Can I somehow make them do this? Now that it has been over 6 months, my insurance won't pay anyway, but I gave the hospital the insurance card. Can I blame this all on the hospital or do I have to take responsibility? What kind of documents should I ask for to prove that the hospital did not give me the chance to pay my bill or try to bill my insurance?
Thanks!