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swato
Citizen
Username: Swato
Post Number: 164
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 5:18 pm: | 
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I received a collection letter/ notice in the mail today regarding a hospital bill balance of $89.00. The problem is the date of service was 02/02/99 I don't even remember what or who this service was for (wife, kids, me). Has anyone had this happen to them before? What would you do? I don’t want to ruin our credit over this. Any help will be welcomed.
Swato
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The Libertarian
Citizen
Username: Local_1_crew
Post Number: 1391
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 5:21 pm: |
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pay it and keep better records |
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 2242
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 5:30 pm: |
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Lordy, I have to agree with Libertarian. The effort you'd have to go through to sort it out is most likely not worth it. However, I don't find that keeping better records is alway the solution with the medical establishment. Granted, I'm dealing with a lot of bills, and have in the past with my parents, but matching up bill to insurance payment to balance can become your life's work if there's a lot of it. Just had one I'd allowed to "season" in a drawer for a couple of months, called up to pay it, and learned it had been paid by the insurance upon second submission. Who knew? These things can have a multi-year life cycle... |
emmie
Supporter
Username: Emmie
Post Number: 676
Registered: 3-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 5:51 pm: |
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As a victim of ID theft I would say call them and get the info about the bill before you pay it. If it turns out to be yours pay it right away. |
kathy
Citizen
Username: Kathy
Post Number: 1230
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 6:02 pm: |
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Would this by any chance be from St. Barnabas? I recently got collection notices for two bills that my records say were paid years ago. The agency wants a cancelled check from an account that I closed a year and a half ago.
St. Barnabas' billing system has been totally screwed up for years--it took me months to get these bills straightened out the first time, and now they're dunning me for them again. Not significant amounts of money (less than $100 for both of them) but I refuse to pay them a second time! |
cody
Citizen
Username: Cody
Post Number: 907
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 7:10 pm: |
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We recently got one from St. B's, too. Doesn't even show a date of service, or what the charge is for. As far as I know, all our accounts with them are paid in full. I wonder if it is a glitch in their billing system. That's very interesting. Good to know for when I call them this week. |
rml
Citizen
Username: Rml0570
Post Number: 28
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 7:47 pm: |
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This happened to me many time with the birth of my 2 children. I kept very good records for the 2nd, knowing it was inevitable. Call your insurance company to find out what the claim is for (using the date), and why they didn't pay (b/c that's likely what happened).
I was also told by the 'collection agency' that this wasn't something they automatically ruined your credit - e.g. it wasn't at that point yet. They gave me ample time to try and correct it with my insurance company. They just wanted to know that I got their letter and was trying to figure out what to do.
In many instances I had to make more than one phone call between the billing agency and my insurance company. Time spent was probably worth more than the bill itself, but it was more the point of it for me. |
Handygirl
Citizen
Username: Handygirl
Post Number: 514
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 7:51 pm: |
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I hate St. B's billing dept. I had my second child in NYC even though we have since moved to SO partially because I didn't want to deal with St. B.
How annoying for you all. |
Spitz
Supporter
Username: Doublea
Post Number: 1351
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 9:16 pm: |
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I had problems with St. Barnabas (Mounmouth Medical Center) several years ago. Similar situation - totally screwed up. I called the president of St. B's office, and although I didn't speak personally to the president, I did speak to his secretary.
I told her I received a letter from a collection agency claiming I owed something from years before. I had never received anything before this collection notice and that this was an inexcusable way to do business. St. B. is a business, and is constantly advertising for consumers, and this is certainly not a way to attract consumers.
The matter was dropped.
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NFK
Citizen
Username: Nfk
Post Number: 72
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, January 22, 2006 - 9:40 pm: |
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LOL - my recently born son just got "billed" from St. B's. Yes, that's right, my newborn son has been sent a bill, which, strangely enough, is the same exact bill his parents received. I am writing a letter to the prez of St. Bs telling them the BBB should come down hard on their billing... |
shoshannah
Citizen
Username: Shoshannah
Post Number: 1149
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 10:00 am: |
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That's funny. I keep getting bills for an operation my daughter had two years ago. My insurance company already paid for it, and I have mailed and faxed copies of the EOB many times to prove that the bill was taken care of. |
Morrisa da Silva
Citizen
Username: Mod
Post Number: 337
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 10:01 am: |
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I recently received a lab bill in my son's name for service which was not his. The original bill had no information about referring physician or place of service and the number to follow up was a medical biller working for the lab. After calls to the lab's headquarters in Maine lo and behold a new bill arrives three months later this time showing service was at the lab's facilities at St. Barnabus and docter had offices in St. B's ambulatory care center.
Apparently there was a patient with the same name and someone accessed my son's record at St. B from an E.R. visit and incorrectly billed him.
This was a 130.00 bill and took 3 months and several phonecalls to resolve. I just hope I don't get a dunning notice a couple of years form now. |
delin wareham
Citizen
Username: Dwareham
Post Number: 34
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 10:35 am: |
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I have also received collection letters from StB for services allegedy rendered over a year ago. It makes me laugh because they demand payment within 30 days or else.
I'm very offended with the tone of the letter -- I mean, if they can't send a bill to me within 30 days of the service, why should I have to pay them within 30 days of the letter?
And the "service" isn't listed, so I can't tell if it's a valid bill to pay or not.
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Crazy_quilter
Citizen
Username: Crazy_quilter
Post Number: 132
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 12:39 pm: |
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we had a bill that kept coming for our son from Overlook Hospital. The insurance company had paid 80% of it and we were supposed to pay the rest. My husband was convinced it was for the bloodwork we had done to check his bilyrubin level and that they just had the dates wrong. I kept calling and found out it was for a 3 day hospitalization. I said, "that didn't happen." They said, "Could your husband have brought the baby in without you knowing it?" (Uh, since i was nursing him every hour, i doubt it)....
It was for a diabetic coma. "My baby isn't diabetic." "Are you diabetic?" they asked. "NO!"
They were actually sort of nasty in the way they were insisting that the baby had been in the hospital.
Finally, they called back and said it was all a big mistake and now they needed to pay my insurance company back the part they had paid!
Weird! and we almost just paid it! |
swato
Citizen
Username: Swato
Post Number: 165
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 5:41 pm: |
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Kathy,
The bill is from Columbus Hospital in Newark. I am researching the history before I pay this...What a pain in the Astronaut.
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greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 6611
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 5:52 pm: |
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Swato, send a certified letter to the Agency and the hospital stating that you are disputing the charges, researching, etc. You can also instruct them to contact you only by mail if they start with harrassing phone calls. This should stop them from reporting it to the credit agencies. Or, if it doesn't, you can attach the letter to your file until it gets resolved. You need to be adament in your wording: not my bill, never used the facility, etc. they must provide you with details, blah, blah. |
AlleyGater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 1117
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 6:23 pm: |
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I don't know... why should you have to pay the bill because of a probably false statement. I know you can't prove that it's not yours but they probably can't prove that you paid it either. I would say let the big institution eat the small amount of money, not the little guy. So I would probably start by stating that you paid for this, and make them prove you wrong.
Isn't there a statue of limitations on stuff like this? I mean after 7 years I thought you could trash your records. |
swato
Citizen
Username: Swato
Post Number: 166
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 7:41 pm: |
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I called the collection agency and they are going to get statements from the Hospital and put the account on hold for 45 days. I will also be researching our files. How come I didn’t hear about this bill before? Why are they contacting me now after 7 years has gone by? They need to prove that I didn't pay this.
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Smarty Jones
Citizen
Username: Birdstone
Post Number: 215
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 8:28 am: |
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Swato- I'm going to offer some separate advice....which is, not to pay it, and not to spend one second thinking about it another minute. We recieved an outdated INCORRECT medical bill from a collection agency several years back, and I spent hours upon hours trying to work through this. In the end, the collection agency went out of business. The original hospital refused to accept payment (they already recieved moved the debt off their books, and into collections) and the Credit reporting agency refused to update the credit report, unless the Collection Agency (now out-of-business) informed them the debt was squared-up. So it sat there, and sure enough, we had no problem getting the best rate on 3 car loans, a home mortgage and 2 home equity loans. After 7 years, it isn't even factored into your credit report anyway, and it turns out it didn't matter to begin with because it was such an outlier to our profile.
All the stuff about your legal rights, legal letters, and ways to require people to Prove things in order to keep the bill, is basically useless, and inneffective. Nobody has to do anything, no matter how good of a legal letter you send them. It will only frustrate you, and waste your time.
Given that it's already in collections, it's on your record already, and since 7 years have already passed, it will likely dissappear on its own. Good luck. |
CageyD
Citizen
Username: Cageyd
Post Number: 559
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 8:40 am: |
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I read recently that this is becoming a bit of a scam. Phony collections agencies send out fake bills for services rendered. Usually the amounts are fairly small- small enough so people just pay them even if they can't quite remember what the service was for becuase making an inquiry regarding the payment will be too time consuming. I would think your insurance company would be able to verify if it was a legitimate claim because most everything - paid or unpaid goes through them at some point |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 6616
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 10:43 am: |
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Whether a scam or not, the date of 2/2/99 may meanthat agencies are cleaning out about-to-expire claims. This is not uncommon; they probably make more $$ this way.
Your lovely state tax office does the same thing. A few years ago, we received a notice that the taxes from 3 ago were off by a couple hundred dollars. I'd calulcated the NYS reciprocity wrong. But, by waiting until 30 days before the 3 month limit that they could pursue the additional taxes, NJ managed to double the amount we owed them because the interest was so high.
It was the only notice that we ever got and the timing was intentional. Collection agencies are doing the same thing.
The difference is that you could choose to let it go because the creditor (if it is indeed your debt) will eventually write it off. And, as has been noted, if everything else is stellar with your credit, what the hell. Just make sure that you have the explanation that you are absolutely sure that the creditor is wrong attached to your credit file.
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swato
Citizen
Username: Swato
Post Number: 167
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 5:18 pm: |
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Thank you all for your input.
Swato  |
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