Ive been trying to get my credit straightend out. And seeing all the mistakes that they report i decided to pull my wifes credit report. When i pulled her reports She had recent collection within the past few months. Her credit history is flawless. Twenty seven years and never even a 30 day late payment. Upon futher research i realized this collection was from the local hospital. It is a charge from where i had surgery about 6 months ago. I was admitted into ICU and she filled out the paperwork for me. Our insurance covered all the exspenses except for the percentage out of pocket i am required to pay. I payed the 100.00 emergency out of pocket that night. I later recieved a bill form them for approx $1200.00. I spoke to the women on the phone and she said to make payments and have it paid off in 6 months. So over the last 5 months i have been makeing payments to them. Was going to pay it off this month when i realized that they reported it to a JDB. I went to the hospital today and asked why they did that and they informed me that if your 1 cent underpayment of the bill divided by 6 months payment then it goes to collections. I offered to pay it off today and if they would remove it from my wifes flawless credit report. They said no that it was hospital policy. If i paid it off it would still report as collection but pif which would be the least amount of damaging points. First of all it wasnt my wifes responsibility why would they report it on her and not me. I have never had them report on me. What if any actions or offers could i make to get them to delete it from her CR. The JDB is NCO,is there anything i can do to get them to remove it? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I just want it off of her reports.
One cent/penny?? LOL. Should have reached in your pocket, taken out a penny and told them to shove it where the sun don't shine. As far as you/your wife is concerned - were you covered under your health insurance policy or were you covered under hers? If under hers, and she signed the paperwork she was fully responsible. If under yours, and she only acted as your representative to sign the paperwork, the hospital illegally made her the debtor.
under her insurance. She signed it becasue i was not able to at the time, you know how the hospital is , your bleeding to death and they want a signature from someone. Why is she responsible? What if she wasnt there and someone else signed. just trying to understand why she is. Thanks
I found out to my surprise that I am responsible for my wife's medical bills even though we are separated. Google "doctrine of necessity" to find out why.
so what you are saying , is that no matter who was with me if they filled the paperwork out for me they would have been responsible? If that is the case i will take my ex- with me next time.
No... (but a great idea about the ex) It has to do with the insurance policy. Ultimately the primary policy holder is responsible for all debts claimed against that policy. Now what she (or you, who ever is doing this) could dispute this as not her debt for the reason as it was "services" received by you. You could also send a DV to the creditor. The hospital may have mistakenly given information about your condition to the JBD which is a big problem for them (hipaa violation). Get the JBD to send you everything they have and review it. And the final option is the send a letter to the hospital to have them show where you were made aware of any policy on outstanding balances and has yours or you wife signature on it. This one they may have but it is worth a shot. Some places will have a policy but will not inform the consumer about the policy. Now with all that said I am still in the learning part of my credit rebuilding process so if any one can add or take away from the please do. I am just stating things I have seen before. I am by no means an expert.
Thanks for the info Yankees. But isnt it a violation of the FDCPA for misrepresentation. I have already disputed it with the CRAs, i want to send a DV to CA but u was trying to gather some info on this before i did. Im going to the hospital tommorow to get everything from them from the records department.
Yankees you stated that the primary policy holder is ultimatley responsible for any claims against the policy. Now look at it this way, the policy paid what they are responsible to pay, i am responsible for paying 10% of services recieverd. So the policy holder should be reliefed of all obligations correct
When I say the primary policy holder is responsible I mean for the outstanding charges (what ever is not covered by insurance). I believe you said that you were covered under your wife's insurance so she is the primary policy holder so she is respondsible for the charges that the insurance did not cover. This is all part of the wonderful insurance game. As for the FDCPA violation, you are correct that misrepresentation (explination of why this is not misrepresentation above) is a violation but so is violating HIPAA laws. If you send a validation letter to the creditor and they have anything that relates to your condition or the procedures that were given to you then the hospital is in violation of the HIPAA laws for privacy. I will rack my brain some more and see what else I can come up with also.
Yankees thanks for all the useful info and suggestions, if you do come up with some more please let me know. I am going to DV CA today. Get all my info from the hospital and see what transpires.
A spouse is liable for his/her spouse's medical debts, even if they are separated. It doesn't have anything to do with insurance, and it doesn't matter if you signed anything or not. This only applies to "necessary" medical treatment, not to elective procedures. And it may vary in other states, although it seems to be nearly universal. It's certainly true in North Carolina.
Not true. I live in North Carolina. North Carolina is not a community property state. A spouse is still liable for his/her spouse's necessary medical debts. The relevant case law is North Carolina Baptist Hospital v. Harris, 1987. It's been cited by appeals courts in South Carolina, Michigan, and Hawaii, among others. I can't post a link but google is your friend. There's a lot of info on the divorce forums, because separated spouses are often surprised to find that they still have to pay for the other party's medical bills.
TeeVee touched on it. Its the Doctrine of Necessaries (or necessities??-- I can't remember) that allows for such in non-community property states. The rules may vary somewhat from state to state. I'm in a community property state, so I've never researched it.
