This is a personal rant. If you do not want to read it simply hit the arrow and you will be taken to the next post. That said.... I just have to jump up on the soapbox and rant about something that I find so easy to do... but realize that more often than not, people are not taking the time to do. Over the months, post after posts, people make comments like..."I'm sure I paid this, I thought the insurance company paid this", etc., etc. when refering to medical bills. Actually all bills need to be kept and can be kept with a small amount of effort, but medical bills are the most norotious for getting screwed up. I have always been taught that we should keep all records for a period of 3 years. I go one further and keep everything for 5 years. I have always had lots of medical bills and after dealing with doctors, hospitals and insurance companies for so many years I am still amazed at the numerous ways they can find to screw up their recording sytem and send demands for payments even after bills have been paid. I will admit that I am a very anal, type A personsonality. When I get a bill from the doctor it gets filed, along with anything to do with that bill. Insurance EOB statements, etc., all stapled together. I can go after any bill and find EVERYTHING that had ever been sent regarding that bill. Payments made are noted on that bill. Conversations with the billing dept. are writted on that bill. EVERYTHING is right there. It is mind boggling to me that so many people do not keep records. How can you ever prove that anything got paid. If you kept the records, there would never be any need for validation letters. You could just pull out your record, make a copy of where you did pay the bill, or the insurance company paid, send it along with a note telling the CA to go away. I have had doctors come back one year later demanding payment. I simply pulled out my copy, showed them where they were paid by insurance, and told them to screw off. DONE. Okay, I am climbing down now. Do yourselves a favor. Keep records. judy
