i have a bill for a doctor's visit that i was paying off (about $50/month). it reached a balance that one more payment of slightly more than my monthly payment would finish it off. i paid that amount in mid-october. i then recieved another bill for the same amount. when i called to see what the issue was, i was told that i had several accounts that were starting from 3 years ago that have since gone to collections. since i did not specify an account on my payment, they then applied to an older account. supposedly, she could not give me any info on the old accounts since they were in collections. 1) i don't have any old accounts. i am covered by insurance and i usually pay any dr's bills i recieve. 2) if the dr's office is hands off of the old accounts since they have been turned over, how can they apply my payment to that old balance? 3)can i send them a letter to get an accounting of the old accounts? HELP!
Were they sending you statements listing this account, and were your payments made from these statements, or did they include a payment stub from this statement? Did statements sent to you show the other bills they claim are outstanding?
Were any of these bills covered or coverable by insurance, and were any claims required submitted to your insurance company?
If covered by insurance, was the doctor "in network", and bound by a contract with the insurance company?
any current bills i get are first presented to the insurance company and then i pay the overage. as for the old bills depending on the time, i was either covered by my old job or the state (public aid since i was pregnant). i don't ever recall getting any bills then. i definitely wouldn't have ignored them.
any current bills i get are first presented to the insurance company and then i pay the overage. as for the old bills depending on the time, i was either covered by my old job or the state (public aid since i was pregnant). i don't ever recall getting any bills then. i definitely wouldn't have ignored them.
any current bills i get are first presented to the insurance company and then i pay the overage. as for the old bills depending on the time, i was either covered by my old job or the state (public aid since i was pregnant). i don't ever recall getting any bills then. i definitely wouldn't have ignored them.
It sounds like you need an accounting for each separate bill, including all amounts paid by insurance and the state, to even determine what is legitimately owed. It may also be that if the OC has been billing and receiving your payments on the one account, but applying them to other bills for which no statements or bills were received by you, forwarding them to the CA, in this capacity they may have become an agent for the CA, and responsible to apply your payment to the account that you direct to be paid. If they have never billed or sent you a statement for the other accounts, your payment was sent to pay the one you were billed for. FDCPA requires that CAs apply your payments to the account you direct when they have multiple accounts, in case some accounts may be in dispute. Since they are collecting but forwarding to the CA, you could make the case that their action is that of the CA, and therefore subject to FDCPA, despite that they were the OC. If they take the position that this is all one account, in effect a revolving account, then where are the bills? See FCBA, which requires timely sending of statements when there is a balance due. They may not be directly covered, but how do they expect to be paid for bills they never send you, when clearly they have your address. Also do they send you statements? Sounds like a mess, but at least partly due to their own sloppyness. Unfortunately too common. Demand a prompt full accounting, since you only just found out there were even other accounts. There may be other errors in insurance or state billing. That is your moral, and possibly legal, leverage.
Proceed in writing, CRRR, requesting replies in writing. Use phone only for follow-up to prod response. You need statements on all accounts, as well as original bills to check for what services were provided and billed for, as well as what was paid by third parties.
thanks ontrack! i'll keep you all posted. <sigh> you'd think i'd know how to handle all these things. i guess i just panicked.
Based on how often medical billing gets messed up, many medical billing departments can't handle billing to both a customer and insurance correctly. Why should you expect to be an expert in a system you have contact with only occasionally, with different parties every time, and that is run with little visibility or disclosure to you? That problems are common is not suprising.
should i request accounting on each account (pretending to know nothing) or should i demand a full accounting and quote FCBA?
I would address the issue head-on: You have been paying on an account based on a bill they had sent you, with payment made to them, expecting that your payments would be applied to this specific bill. They have now informed you that they had not been applying your payments to this account, but had instead been applying it, without any notice, to other accounts for which you had never received any bill, so that those amounts have not been reviewed for accuracy, or to ensure proper insurance had been billed or paid. Since you have never received any bills for these services, you did not authorized their application of your payments to them without your review, nor did you authorize forwarding of your payments to third parties without notice to you. You want a full accounting of all accounts they have had with you, including the original bills listing services and dates rendered, as well as statements showing all payments made, insurance claims submitted or paid, and what accounts all payments were applied to, in order to determine whether amounts billed are correct, legally billable based on agreed insurance payment schedules, with payments correctly and accurately applied. (The allowable amount is an issue if the provider is in your insurance network, or required to accept payment off of a schedule, for example, if covered by a state program.) CC: your insurance company (or other covering agency), and send them a letter requesting what amounts were submitted to them for payment, and what amounts were paid.
