I just got a medical bill for someone else!

[torinsmom]

So I get this medical bill from a hospital I have never been to in a city in my state. I open it up and it is for someone I do not know and the guarantor is listed as me and my address is listed as well! It lists the insurance as Blue Cross Blue Shield, which is my insurance, but my insurance is an individual only policy. The bill is for 1220.50 and includes a CT scan and emergency room stuff.

So.....should I be worried? I don't know how this person would have gotten my insurance information and my address(which is not even listed on my card!)

Marsha

 

[happygirl]

I would call and see what was going on

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I would definitely call and try to work this out. I would also follow it with a signed affidavit. I wouldn't settle for anything short of a correct bill showing that you owe nothing.

On the other hand, you could just pay it and avoid the hassle.

 

[torinsmom]

I'll call Monday---it is past their office hours now. It says it is not a bill but for informational purposes only. I just don't know how someone could list a guarantor without some kids of proof, you know? I am checking my credit reports to see if there is anything weird, but nothing yet.

And just paying this is not an option. I have medical bills that I am having to pay payments on and I sure am not going to pay $1200 of someone else's bills!

Marsha

 

[torinsmom]

Well, nothing out of order on my credit report. Maybe someone found an old bill or something with my name and address. Still, it seems weird that someone could just give any old name as a guarantor. I know I am the guarantor of my DS's bills, but that is because I am his mom.

Marsha

 

[JoiseyMom]

Someone could have stolen your medical information. There were reports on the news in the past about people stealing and using peoples insurance information!

Good Luck!

 

[torinsmom]

Okay, mystery solved, although it is still kind of weird. I mentioned the medical bill to my sister and when I said the name, she said "That's Jackson's friend!(her son)" Turns out the boy whose medical bill I got was at camp with her son a few hours away last month. He fell off the bunk and they thought he had broken his jaw. My sister had me listed as an emergency contact for my nephew. So I guess the camp got everything all mixed up. I plan to call the hospital and make sure they take me off their records as the child's guarantor and my sister is going to give the mom my number so she can get the bill from me(she actually lives in my neighborhood) I am also going to call whoever runs the boy scout camp and let them know about the mistake. I don't like that my name was put down as a guarantor, even if it had been my nephew, KWIM?

Marsha

 

[happygirl]

Okay, mystery solved, although it is still kind of weird. I mentioned the medical bill to my sister and when I said the name, she said "That's Jackson's friend!(her son)" Turns out the boy whose medical bill I got was at camp with her son a few hours away last month. He fell off the bunk and they thought he had broken his jaw. My sister had me listed as an emergency contact for my nephew. So I guess the camp got everything all mixed up. I plan to call the hospital and make sure they take me off their records as the child's guarantor and my sister is going to give the mom my number so she can get the bill from me(she actually lives in my neighborhood) I am also going to call whoever runs the boy scout camp and let them know about the mistake. I don't like that my name was put down as a guarantor, even if it had been my nephew, KWIM?

Marsha

That doesn't make much sense to me. How did the camp get your insurance information

 

[Nancy]

That doesn't make much sense to me. How did the camp get your insurance information

Usually when you go to camps they take all that information. Sounds like the camp mixed up some information.

Plus you can be the responsible party to pay the medial bills and not be the person who insures them.

 

[NikiM20]

That doesn't make much sense to me. How did the camp get your insurance information

Im thinking that they did not get her insurance information, but just happened to have the same insurance as her. Blue Cross is a fairly common insurance

 

[NotUrsula]

That doesn't make much sense to me. How did the camp get your insurance information

I don't think that the camp did have that; it was most likely the hospital had it already. If anyone in the OP's family had ever been treated there, or at another hospital in the same group, they would have looked up her name, then matched the phone number on the name the camp gave them (obviously info from the wrong boy's file) and assumed that they had a match. Bad protocol to let the charges go through without calling her to authorize, though; most hospitals now require a photo ID matching a name on the policy before they will process the charge against any insurance.

 

[torinsmom]

They didn't have my policy number or anything like that. They just had me listed as the guarantor with my name and address. It said BCBS, but did not have a policy number. MY kid did not and never has gone to the camp and I have never had anything to do with the hospital the bill was from. My nephew and the boy in question do not have similar names either, so I don't know how they got things so mixed up. The camp had my name and address as my nephew's second emergency contact. I am assuming if they had filed with my insurance, I would have heard something from BCBS, since this bill was from 6/21.

Just kind of weird, you know?

Marsha