About 3 weeks ago I received a letter from a collection agency regarding medical visits from November 2001. I had disputed these charges with them back in March of 2002 or so when it was first sent to collections. I had told them that I had Medi-cal and that I was unemployed and was not responsible and had received benefits. NEVER heard from them again after about 4 phone calls during that time. Now its almost 4 years later and I received a letter out of the blue from them regarding this same account. They wont provide me with documentation of the medical visits nor will they provide me with a detailed billing of their charges. They just want me to pay $506.00. Mind you the hospital says I owe $314 and the Drs. office says I owe $29.50. I have already contacted the county to find out if they have record of this and my benefits during that time. How can they apply interest charges and fees to an account they have not even attempted to collect in 3 1/2 years. Not only that I was told there is a good chance that the county wont pay charges that are this old even if they do determine that I had full benefits during that time. What is my recourse and is there any sort of statue of limitations for this sort of thing. The letter I received from them was from an attorney who said I had 72 hours to resolve this issue with the credit bureau or come to some sort of payment arrangement. HELP!

