S
sdspradlin
Guest
What is the name of your state? Oklahoma.
On January 1st, 2003, my wife went to a hospital for a test that was referred by her physician. She did everything she was told to do while she was there, but they never asked her for any current personal info. She assumed that the doctor had sent her file to the hospital. We have been insured with Blue Cross / Blue Shield for over 10 years with my employer, so we expected there to be no problems. Apparently, the hospital DIDN'T get our updated personal info from the referring physician.
The hospital had some 15+ year old info on my wife, and tried to file a claim based on that old info. When they couldn't, they tried calling her, again with the very old, out-of-date information. (A simple phone call to the physician would have done it...).
They turned the claim over to collections, who could also not reach us, and then it was turned over to an attorney. On August 1st, a full eight months after the service was provided, my wife rec'd a call from the attorney. This is the first we heard of the problem. The attorney wanted the $2,200 now.
My wife explained to the attorney that we were insured and that there should not have been a problem. She told him that we may be able to get our insurance to pay the hospital anyway, even though it was past the 6 month "timely-filing" deadline. The attorney said that they do not wait on insurance payments.
We have now been issued a summons and have been sued for this amount, plus attorney fees and court costs. My HR person contaced BCBS and they said they WOULD go ahead and pay the claim to the hospital, who was the providor.
I called the attorney, who now sent me to another attorney, and he said his office would need to send the claim in, since it was now their account. In addition to that, he still wants the additional $800 in attorney fees.
What should we do? Do we go ahead and have our insurance company pay the claim to the hospital? Do we answer our summons and ask that the insurance claim be considered payment in full?
Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks.
sdspradlin
On January 1st, 2003, my wife went to a hospital for a test that was referred by her physician. She did everything she was told to do while she was there, but they never asked her for any current personal info. She assumed that the doctor had sent her file to the hospital. We have been insured with Blue Cross / Blue Shield for over 10 years with my employer, so we expected there to be no problems. Apparently, the hospital DIDN'T get our updated personal info from the referring physician.
The hospital had some 15+ year old info on my wife, and tried to file a claim based on that old info. When they couldn't, they tried calling her, again with the very old, out-of-date information. (A simple phone call to the physician would have done it...).
They turned the claim over to collections, who could also not reach us, and then it was turned over to an attorney. On August 1st, a full eight months after the service was provided, my wife rec'd a call from the attorney. This is the first we heard of the problem. The attorney wanted the $2,200 now.
My wife explained to the attorney that we were insured and that there should not have been a problem. She told him that we may be able to get our insurance to pay the hospital anyway, even though it was past the 6 month "timely-filing" deadline. The attorney said that they do not wait on insurance payments.
We have now been issued a summons and have been sued for this amount, plus attorney fees and court costs. My HR person contaced BCBS and they said they WOULD go ahead and pay the claim to the hospital, who was the providor.
I called the attorney, who now sent me to another attorney, and he said his office would need to send the claim in, since it was now their account. In addition to that, he still wants the additional $800 in attorney fees.
What should we do? Do we go ahead and have our insurance company pay the claim to the hospital? Do we answer our summons and ask that the insurance claim be considered payment in full?
Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks.
sdspradlin