Medical debt

[Kat4965]

I am in Louisiana. A few years ago I went in for a surgery that turned into a nightmare. That is beside the point. I have admitted debt from it but am so confused. I get tons of bills with all different amounts and no detail. They come from not only the hospital, but 3 different collection agencies. I have asked for detailed bills to know exactly what they are for and have received nothing, and get yelled at to pay whenever I try to get answers. Who do I pay? How do I know what I am paying for? How can I be billed by 4 different places for the supposedly same bills, that again are such random, unexplained amounts?

 

[ecmst12]

At this point, you are going to have a hard time getting the info you are looking for. Had you requested it before the bills were sent to collections, you could have easily obtained the detailed invoices, and in fact it's likely that they were sent to you shortly after the procedure. You would have gotten bills from the surgeon, the facility, the anesthesiologist, possibly a pathologist, just off the top of my head. This is what happens when you spend years ignoring a bill.

 

[Kat4965]

Thanks!!!

Your helpful advice is sooooo appreciated!! Not that you give a damn, but "shortly after the procedure" because of complications, I was still hospitalized - in fact for 2 months afterwards and had 3 additional surgeries to try and repair extensive internal damage, then it took a year and a half to fully heal, a major loss of income, not to mention I almost lost my life and home in the process. Now that I am back on my feet I am trying my best to repay my admitted debt, and came here for help, not to be insulted by people who have nothing better to do but sit in judgement of everyone, because they lead oh so perfect lives. At least I am trying to do something about it. I incurred the debt, am not trying to get out of it, just needed help on how to proceed. So thanks again for your "help". You have yourself a nice day!

 

[Mark Maroon]

I am in Louisiana. A few years ago I went in for a surgery that turned into a nightmare. That is beside the point. I have admitted debt from it but am so confused. I get tons of bills with all different amounts and no detail. They come from not only the hospital, but 3 different collection agencies. I have asked for detailed bills to know exactly what they are for and have received nothing, and get yelled at to pay whenever I try to get answers. Who do I pay? How do I know what I am paying for? How can I be billed by 4 different places for the supposedly same bills, that again are such random, unexplained amounts?

ecmst12 was 100% right, but perhaps not all that helpful on what to do now.

Many people think that if they go into the hospital for a surgery, then they will receive a single bill for that procedure from "the hospital" or from "their doctor". But in fact they receive up to a dozen separate bills for different amounts related to different services they didn't even know they received that were provided by separate entities they didn't even know existed. Often the explanation of who provided the services and what the services actually were is cryptic at best. Fast forward to a year later and you now have a dozen separate different original creditors who each passed off their unpaid bills to a dozen different collection agencies. Sometimes the original creditor will continue to send bills even though their collection agency is also trying to collect the exact same bill. The collection agencies will want you to pay the full amount of the original bill, plus their fees. It can all be very confusing. And of course the longer you fail to act, the worse it will get. At some point some of the original creditors (or more likely the collection agency that they sold the debt to) may file a civil law suit against you. At which point a whole slew of other issues arise.

If possible, you want to act within 30 days after the first contact by any particular entity claiming to be a creditor or claiming to represent a creditor.

You need to become a lay expert in the fair debt collection practices act (FDCPA).

You can start by learning about debt verification/validation.

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/debt-validation.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt_validation

 

[commentator]

Did you have health insurance coverage at the time of the surgery? If not, has the hospital tried to get your expenses covered by Louisiana's Medicaid provider? What is the situation with this? Is this just a 100% self covered expense, or has there been any insurance involved? When you discuss years of poor health and being "off your feet" yet without dealing with any of the bills, it's hard to imagine any third parties have not become involved.

 

[Kat4965]

I did not have coverage at the time

Did you have health insurance coverage at the time of the surgery? If not, has the hospital tried to get your expenses covered by Louisiana's Medicaid provider? What is the situation with this? Is this just a 100% self covered expense, or has there been any insurance involved? When you discuss years of poor health and being "off your feet" yet without dealing with any of the bills, it's hard to imagine any third parties have not become involved.

Yes some was able to be picked up by Louisiana Medicaid, but that only picked up part of it. I wasn't fully out of work the year and a half of recovery, yet I was in the clinic for treatment twice a week during that time, so since I had some income, I became ineligible, as I made just enough over the income guidelines, even though I was scraping by. I am a single person with only my income to support me, so after paying my basic living expenses, it didn't leave anything extra. I am in a better position now being back at 100% so I want to take care of what is left over. I am trying to do the right thing, but it's very confusing.

 

[ajkroy]

The original, detailed bills were still sent somewhere...presumably to your address. They don't just evaporate after 30 days. Can't you use those original bills to reconcile what you owe now with the collection agencies?

 

[Kat4965]

Never got a detailed bill

The original, detailed bills were still sent somewhere...presumably to your address. They don't just evaporate after 30 days. Can't you use those original bills to reconcile what you owe now with the collection agencies?

You can believe that or not - it is what it is. Some was picked up by Louisiana Medicaid. What was not was sent to collections within 60 days, which they can do in this state. That much I know. Louisiana Medicaid does not send Explanation of Benefit detail to patient to show what they paid and what they didn't. The bills I have received only have a date of service and an amount.

 

[single317dad]

The care provider would be the one who sent the original detailed bill to the consumer (you). You should have received bills from the hospital, surgeons, radiologists, and the works within a short time after your treatment. This would happen regardless of insurance status.

Knowing what to pay and getting it paid after a hospital stay can become quite confusing. Myself, I had many thousands of dollars in hospital bills, all of which I paid, yet still had a collection agency on me over what I believed was a duplicate bill I had already paid. The CA was a real jerk and wouldn't take a single step to verify one way or another. I ended up working with the provider and realized there were actually two separate, identical bills, and I had only paid one.

Call your treatment providers. Find out what you really owe them. Some will have already sold the debt, and some will tell you they have but are lying or misinformed. Ignore the collection agencies until you have talked with all the providers. Only pay collection agencies that you have to pay directly. Attempt to negotiate a settlement with each creditor. Many will accept a small percentage of the original bill to settle the debt. Have your payment ready when you reach a settlement.

The alternative is bankruptcy. Good luck.

 

[ecmst12]

The bills that were covered by Medicaid should have been paid 100%. The only ones you should have to worry about are the ones they didn't cover at all.

 

[Silverplum]

Your helpful advice is sooooo appreciated!! Not that you give a damn, but "shortly after the procedure" because of complications, I was still hospitalized - in fact for 2 months afterwards and had 3 additional surgeries to try and repair extensive internal damage, then it took a year and a half to fully heal, a major loss of income, not to mention I almost lost my life and home in the process. Now that I am back on my feet I am trying my best to repay my admitted debt, and came here for help, not to be insulted by people who have nothing better to do but sit in judgement of everyone, because they lead oh so perfect lives. At least I am trying to do something about it. I incurred the debt, am not trying to get out of it, just needed help on how to proceed. So thanks again for your "help". You have yourself a nice day!

Well, then. The details don't change the law. You came for a legal problem: be pleasant to the nice volunteers.

 

[FamilyGirl]

The collection agency will not be able to provide you with any detailed information regarding the services provided to you as they do not get that information due to HIPPA laws. All they generally have is the hospitals name, the Doctor, the date, the patient and the amount of the bill. I think you'd be best served contacting the hospital's billing department, and they can provide you with an explanation of what you're being billed for.

If it was one procedure that all the bills were incurred from, most likely they sent all the bills to the same collection agency. If that is the case, you can ask one of the collections representatives if they can combine the accounts for you so you can make one monthly payment. They won't necessarily combine the accounts on their end, but they will spread the payment equally over the individual accounts. If they sent them to different collection's agencies, you'll need to negotiate with each one individually. But just so you know, collections does not have any detailed information regarding what services were performed because of privacy acts. Your best bet is to negotiate a low monthly payment with them that you can afford. Put the monthly payment on a pre-paid credit card and let them auto bill that card every month.

 

[ecmst12]

That is not remotely true. HIPAA allows information to be disclosed for billing purposes, even to 3rd party agencies. They may or may not have the information, but if they don't, it's not because of HIPAA restrictions.

If you can't even spell the law, it's safe to say you don't understand it.

 

[FamilyGirl]

That is not remotely true. HIPAA allows information to be disclosed for billing purposes, even to 3rd party agencies. They may or may not have the information, but if they don't, it's not because of HIPAA restrictions.

If you can't even spell the law, it's safe to say you don't understand it.

Third party debt collectors have access to the patients private health information? When I worked in third party collections we were not given any detailed information as to the specific services performed or provided. The customer was supposed to contact the provider for detailed information. We were only allowed to provide them with the date of service, the amount, and the providers name. If they wanted to know exactly what the bill was for they had to contact the hospital/provider or their health insurance company. In-house collections is different. The OP is dealing with a second or third party collection agency, and wants to know specifically what services she is being billed for; and the collection agency is not able to provide her with that. I understand the creditor can release information for billing purposes to the agency itself. I'm referring to information that is relayed from representatives of the collections agency to the debtor over the phone, or through "dunning" letters. Usually they cannot tell you what the specific services were because of privacy laws.

 

[TigerD]

Third party debt collectors have access to the patients private health information? When I worked in third party collections we were not given any detailed information as to the specific services performed or provided.

Depends on the level of employment. Phone monkeys are almost never given access to information. When I ran a medical team at NCO, management could access the info, but we never did. It isn't that we didn't care to help answer debtor questions - no, actually, we had better things to do than answer pointless questions from debtors.


DC