Who is responsible for paying a medical bill?

[Neptune1]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? I am from Louisiana, am writing this on behalf of my husband. My husband was previously married to a woman who had 2 children (these are his stepchildren). Because she was unemployed, he carried insurance. My husband's insurance was better, so she insisted he carry insurance on her kids. She left him in July 2009 which is their legal day of separation. Approximately 2 weeks after the legal day of separation her daughter (who was not living with her at the time though the ex has legal custody....daughter was living on her own, working, out of high school, living with a friend) went to see a physician. She failed to pay any sort of co-pay. In addition on the account was a previous balance which the ex had failed to pay also as a result of not paying the co-pay. Anyway, when the daughter went to the appointment, the current billing information was not updated. My husband was still carrying her on the insurance. Several weeks later the ex contacted my husband about insurance, begging him to keep them on. He reluctantly agreed but did so for fear that the stepchildren would be uninsured but told her he was not responsible for their bills. She verbally agreed. Many months later as the divorce was being final (they had only 6 month wait), he started receiving bills which he ignored. 6 months after that at which point we married, still receiving bills so I attempted to deal with it for him. I placed a call to the physician's office and explained to them the situation. The office manager told me per HIPPA she could not discuss it with me. So finally the ex called him for something and he told her about the bill. She told him to send them to her and she would take care of it which I did. Yesterday we received a card from her in which she very ugly and very adamantly stated that my husband needed to man up and pay the bill that it was his responsibility. I disagree and so does he. We feel that legally it is hers. Are we correct?

 

[ecmst12]

If the patient was an adult, then she is responsible for the bill. If she was still a minor, then both parents would be equally responsible - her legal parents, not a stepparent or former stepparent, even if she was on the stepparent's insurance.

 

[cbg]

And btw, it's HIPAA, not HIPPA

 

[Neptune1]

Thanks!

Many thanks for your response. Quite honestly, that was my thought. It is a crazy situation. He never took her to the doctors, etc., his ex always did. He never filled out any paperwork or anything, the did. So it is our best guess that either she or the daughter put him on the paperwork as guarantor. He says in the past when the medical bills would come in for the kids she would always take them and take care of them. Of course he really took care of them since she was unemployed. But she wrote the checks, etc. He really didn't have a clue as to what was going on. So, when he started getting the bills, he let them pile up in a stack. Because I am oh too familiar with what can happen if you ignore the medical bills (I have worked for over 20 years for both hospitals and a physician's office), I knew they had to be addressed. I also (being divorced with 2 kids of my own) was well aware of who was guarantor, etc. In my situation I am guarantor for my kids' bills. Anyway, with their divorce, per their property settlement, he was specifically given 4 specific debts...the mortgage and their 3 credit cards because he wanted to protect his credit. And, it was specific in that it mentioned her bills for her kids were her responsibility. She is now trying to say per their property settlement it is not her responsibility. My husband's lawyer said it WAS her responsibility. His lawyer had instructed us to contact the office OR if that didn't work, to walk in with the legal documentation of their divorce and that should end things. We tried contacting this office to no avail. At this point we contemplated on having his lawyer draw up a letter but of course she will charge us more than what the bill is worth. So, we are going to try doing a letter to the doctor's office, creating a paper trail. But before we did so, we just wanted to verify that SHE is responsible as we were told and we had thought all along.