Just received a medical bill a year and a half later!!!???

[DLM1980]

Your statement says you are supposed to pay $30. and you pay that. Later they say you owe $10. more. You do not have to just pay the $10. without getting a valid explanation. Instead you dispute the extra charge in writing. Let them send it to collection; when the collection agency sends you their bill, you file the dispute with them too. All claims and disputes and defenses you have against the original company or creditor you have against the collection agency too. The collection agency may have a harder time answering your claims and questions since it does not have all the files and documents the original creditor had. So it may give up. In most states they have seven years to do their homework and continue to try to collect.

Funny you should mention this, been there done that, in a related story, check out the prologue transcript to the "magic words" episode of the This American Life podcast. http://m..org/radio-archives/episode/532/transcript

 

[scanmom]

I've worked in radiology for 25 years. There are always 2 bills for any imaging exam or procedure done in a hospital. One bill from the hospital and one from the radiologist, who is the physician that read the images or perhaps did the procedure. Even when another physician does a procedure in radiology, most often it is read by the radiologist and you will get a bill for that service. Most patients never see the radiologist and many aren't aware of all this.
That being said, it's very poor business practice to wait so long to bill a patient. I would check to see how long they actually have to legally bill you then if they are within the time limit, call and set up a payment plan.

 

[yooperfan]

All the hospitals in our area were bought out recently and are no longer non profit. I know people that called and set up payment plans and they were still sent to a collection agency. They say they send any bill more than thirty days old to collection either way. Nice, if their going to wreck your credit history, why would you pay them an amount of their choosing? Double check that they enter the right code when you go in for your yearly wellness check that's supposed to be totally covered. My DH went for his and they put in the wrong code. He received a bill for over $300 for 2 blood test and a copayment for the office visit. It took 3 weeks to get the copayment back and still waiting for the blood work bill to receive the right codes.

 

[tinkerone]

this stuff makes me really happy I live in Canada! some of those bills scare the crap out of me....do not know how you guys do it.

 

[ellone]

Doesn't surprise me - when my second daughter was 2 I got a refund for what the hospital over charged me for her delivery.

 

[yooperfan]

Your statement says you are supposed to pay $30. and you pay that.

Later they say you owe $10. more.

You do not have to just pay the $10. without getting a valid explanation.

Instead you dispute the extra charge in writing.

Let them send it to collection; when the collection agency sends you their bill, you file the dispute with them too.

All claims and disputes and defenses you have against the original company or creditor you have against the collection agency too. The collection agency may have a harder time answering your claims and questions since it does not have all the files and documents the original creditor had. So it may give up. In most states they have seven years to do their homework and continue to try to collect.

I'm not prepared to have my credit score affected by a collection claim if I'm in the right or not. The system stinks, especially when it's like pulling teeth to talk to a living breathing human being these days....

 

[Cinders]

I'm going to suggest something a little bit different...don't "call" (if you call you have no physical proof you asked to make payments) First check your state laws about length of time they can bill you. Then if you still are within that time frame mail them a request by registered mail to make partial payments. In some states they cannot refuse a partial payment on a medical bill. (check your state laws on that also) And keep that returned payment and letter as you may need that later.
creditboards (dot) com has great information on medical collections.

 

[kim929]

Don't Doctors only have a certain amount of time they can bill you?

 

[Marionnette]

Don't Doctors only have a certain amount of time they can bill you?

18 months is not an unreasonable amount of time. Most practices audit their accounts once per year. It's possible that the OP's procedure took place just after the audit was done in 2013. Another audit would not have been performed until around the same date in 2014 and then it takes time to cull through the "past due" bills to make sure that an insurance payment was not missed or a duplication of services was not entered into the database.

Every state has its own statute of limitations regarding debt collection. But I don't think any of them are as short as 18 months. Now, the amount of time that the insurance companies allow to lapse between a procedure/service and submitting a claim is a different story.

 

[ellochka]

I'm not prepared to have my credit score affected by a collection claim if I'm in the right or not. The system stinks, especially when it's like pulling teeth to talk to a living breathing human being these days....

the system is horrible. No way to know the cost upfront, or which doctors will even bill you. When the dr or the hospital asks me for my SSN, I just say "I would like to keep it private". Sometimes they will tell they need it for insurance, but it's a lie. I have done it for over 10 years, and none of the providers had any issues with insurance. Not that it would help me much, since there is only one person with my name in the US, and it's me Fortunately, I have never had a dispute situation like that...

My uncomplicated vajajay (the correct medical term is on the banned list) delivery was $3,000 in co-pays, co-insurance, and deductibles. I actually topped out on my total out of pocket that year, which was $2,500, and $500 was billed to the little one. I am not going to the same hospital again if I am ever delivering, even though that is the only one where my OB practices (she was not at the hospital when I delivered, not that I cared much).

Three years later, my husband had emergency abdominal surgery in the same hospital, with a 3 am ambulance ride, ED stay, an hour and a half under general anesthesia, the whole nine yards. Total bill - $1,300. Same insurance, same hospital. Go figure.

 

[ellochka]

Don't Doctors only have a certain amount of time they can bill you?

I tried to google it, and it is so hard to google it out. I would either get tort (malpractice) claims or debt statute of limitations. The only thing that I found is that healthcare services represent a "written contract", i.e. a specific type of a contract. The state probably regulates how much the provider has to bill.