QUESTION
Can I fight a 2 year old doctor's office billing mistake and win?
Asked on Jul 31st, 2012 on Bankruptcy - California
More details to this question:
I checked my credit report several months ago when applying for home loan & discovered a collection placed on there. After several attempted disputes I finally just started paying to get it off my credit, and have paid $1,000 so far. I discovered it came from the surgeon that did my appendectomy in 2010. I called and was told insurance didn't pay, so I called insurance and was told it was never filed. I called back they said they made the mistake and would fix it. I told her I wanted the $1,000 back that collection agency took, she said she would check that and call me the next day. I called the next day and talked to a different lady and the whole story changed. She said hospital gave them wrong insurance and they tried to contact me numerous times and got no response so turned it over to collections.
They made the mistake and admitted it at first then changed the story so I'm out $1,000 the collections agency still wants $1,815 more and it's ruined my credit. I realize it's from 2 years ago but they did make a mistake and how can they prove they sent me numerous statements and made several phone calls. I would have immediately given them the correct insurance info had I known. Why would I avoid them when I had insurance? Is there anything I can do?
8 ANSWERS
Family Attorney serving Henderson, NV
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Harris, Yug & Ohlinger
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To answer your first question: Can I fight a 2 year old doctor's office billing mistake and win? Answer: Yes often. However, you have a lot of overlap between laws going on here - litigation, FCRA, FDCPA and none of these laws are straight forward. I would contact a knowledgeable consumer law Plaintiffs attorney for help with this. Typically these attorneys work on contingency or a flat fee basis to get started, so it is worth inquiring in your area.
Answered on Aug 16th, 2012 at 1:58 PM
Litigation Attorney serving Westland, MI
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Clos, Russell & Wirth, P.C.
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Provided there is not a money judgment against you for this debt, then of course you can dispute it. The first step you should take is obtaining a copy of the entire charge and submitting it to your insurance company for coverage. If it is covered, then the doctor owes you the money you have paid to date. Look to your insurance provider for assistance.
Answered on Aug 16th, 2012 at 1:57 PM
Appellate Attorney serving Grosse Pointe Farms, MI
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Musilli Brennan Associates, PLLC
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Keep working on cleaning it up, both through the Doctors office and your insurances carrier. Errors like this happen and when all is corrected you will get the the money you paid, less any deductible, back. Then you must write a letter to the credit rating companies, with letters from the medical provider, and the insurance company asking them to correct your record and ratings. No fun, but necessary.
Answered on Aug 16th, 2012 at 1:55 PM
Dennis P. Mikko
Ask the doctor's office to resubmit the claim to the correct insurance company. If the insurance company pays, any amount over the balance due should be returned to you. If the doctor's office won't resubmit the bill, ask for copies and contact your insurance company yourself. The answer here seems to lie with the idea of getting the claim to the insurance company and hopefully getting the insurance company to honor the claim and pay. Then once the matter is cleared up, at the very least ask that the report to the credit bureaus be corrected to reflect an account being paid in full.
Answered on Aug 16th, 2012 at 1:55 PM
Criminal Defense Attorney serving Deltona, FL
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R. Jason de Groot, P.A.
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Sue the doctor's office and perhaps even the insurance company, maybe even the collection agency, depending upon the facts. Hire an attorney to do so.
Answered on Aug 16th, 2012 at 1:52 PM
Business Law Attorney serving Bingham Farms, MI
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James T. Weiner, P.C.
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Unfortunately this is a common mistake... and legally you might not have any recourse..Your assumed upon contract with the surgeon was that you would provide them with correct insurance information and insurance companies will not pay invoices past approximately 18 months from the date of service. So your only recourse is to assert that they did not clearly inform you of your responsbilities in court when they take you there because of the collections.
Answered on Aug 16th, 2012 at 1:51 PM
Bankruptcy Law Attorney serving Huntington Woods, MI
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Austin Hirschhorn, P.C.
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I don't understand why you would start to pay a bill you don't owe. If you had insurance at the time you should try to get the doctors office to submit the bill to the insurance company for payment. You should also demand that the money you paid the collection agency be refunded to you when the insurance company pays the doctor. If some of the doctors bill was not covered by your insurance you may have to pay the part that wasn't covered. If you can't straighten this out yourself you may have to hire a lawyer to help you recover the money you should not have paid.
Answered on Aug 15th, 2012 at 11:19 AM
Ask your insurance company if you can bill them directly. Get an invoice from the doctor. I don't know why not. Dispute the claim with the credit agency. Ask that the claim be withdraw when it is paid.
Answered on Aug 14th, 2012 at 12:44 PM