accident medical bill

[dts2620]

What is the name of your state? Minnesota
My wife was in a car accident in march of 1999 for her injuries she saw a chiropractor and two other specialists. Last week I recieved a bill from one of the specialists office. In the letter the person introduced him self as a new office manager and he was cleaning up overdue accounts. He stated we owed
over $6000 which most is finance charges. These bills should have been paid by our auto insurance. Also we have never recieved a bill from them. When talking to him on the phone he said that my wifes health insurance paid for
most of the bills. I told him they should have been paid by the auto insurer he than named the company she was insured by. We got copys of the health insurance E.O.B.'s they were all submitted 6-9 months later than the services. So I think after having trouble collecting from the proper insurance company they just billed it to the heath insurance. What can I do???

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

What is the name of your state? Minnesota
My wife was in a car accident in march of 1999 for her injuries she saw a chiropractor and two other specialists. Last week I recieved a bill from one of the specialists office. In the letter the person introduced him self as a new office manager and he was cleaning up overdue accounts. He stated we owed
over $6000 which most is finance charges. These bills should have been paid by our auto insurance. Also we have never recieved a bill from them. When talking to him on the phone he said that my wifes health insurance paid for
most of the bills. I told him they should have been paid by the auto insurer he than named the company she was insured by. We got copys of the health insurance E.O.B.'s they were all submitted 6-9 months later than the services. So I think after having trouble collecting from the proper insurance company they just billed it to the heath insurance. What can I do???

My response:

The Minnesota "Statute of Limitations" on written debts is 6 years. So, your excuses, reasons, and problems don't matter. What matters is that these were your wife's medical debts - - no one else's - - and you're both on the hook to pay them, including late the charges.

It's rare for an insurance company to pay the entire charges that a doctor charges. Insurance companies are only liable for the fair, reasonable and necessary amounts of the charges, which are based upon "like" charges within your community. For example, if a doctor charges $150.00 for a procedure, but the fair, reasonable and necessary amount for that procedure is $125.00, then guess who's on the hook for the balance? It's you.

IAAL

 

[dts2620]

All of the other bills got paid by the auto insurance i would think if they had properly billed this insurance company they would have been paid. The auto insurance paid lost wages and milage to these apointments.

 

[josie1]

First - be sure that the charges for over $6K are actually your wifes and not someone elses. If they already had problems with accounts - you need to verify this. Make sure all payments made by health insurance have been posted.

Second - the auto carrier that should have paid - was this under medical payment coverage, no fault coverage or liability?

Third - any provider will negotiate $$'s just to clear the books. If no insurance will pay - do not pay the full 6K - negotiate it.

 

[dts2620]

My wife rear ended another car so I think no fault insurance should have covered it in full.

 

[lwpat]

Start by sending them a demand letter requesting a full accounting of all the charges. If most are finance charges it is likely that they are at fault for not properly billing the responsible party. Their other problem is that they never sent you a bill and just let the finance charges continue.

Once you have the information in hand discuss it with adjuster that handled the accident. They may still be responsible.