Yesterday I get a call from the original insurance co. They are working on their end to get this straightened out. They said the hospital never filed a claim in the first place. My papers show that the claim was filed to Etna which was never an isurance carrier in the first place. The hosp. rec said she didn't know why the file said Etna because the right carrier was actually billed. The right carrier says they never had a claim filed. Is this grounds for me to get a deletion from my account?? When I talked with the collections at the hosp she said the only way they would remove it is if the original insurance paid the account. Is it up to the hospital to remove it or the CRA??
I feel when there is insurance they should go after the insurer. Maybe if more insurers got sued by the providers the insurance companys would strart paying their claims like they should!
That happened to me before;my Dermatologist's office billed N Tx Healthcare(eff 9/00)instead of Cigna PPO(eff 8/99).I called the girl in the dr's billing office & asked them "how did you get NTXHlht info when I never gave it to you?". She could never answer,but I gave her AGAIN the Cigna info & claim was just recently paid 100%. Did they make a copy of your insurance card/drivers license when you were admitted & was pre-auth necessary(if so,this is ammunition you can use in your complaint to the hospital administrator(to whom you should address your concerns at this point....don't suffer for someone else's error....typographical errors will occur, but someone is getting away w/o a notable error on his/her evaluation & you are suffering on your credit record). BTW, I work in a medical office. Peace, Sister Girl
strange but true.. Sis, You are sooooooooooo right!! medical billing errors often end up as the patient's credit nightmare. Last year, my Mom was having very expensive hyperbaric treatments, and the doctor (who never actually saw her) put the wrong diagnostic code on a medicare claim form. Medicare denied the claim ($7,000), and sent my Mom a notice that she did not have to pay that bill. To make a long story short, after all kinds of conversations with the billing dept, they still turned it over to Equifax collection agency here, who promptly threatened to put it on her credit report if she did not pay up immediately. My Mom was lucky I am an agent and knew what to do. Most people as sick and old as she is would have just paid it to keep it off their report, or if they couldn't pay, would have had their credit trashed. Recently, I went in for a routine check up. I use a family practice outfit connected with EVMS (medical school and hospital). When I got the EOB, it was for some kind of pre-natal surgery, and was over $800. My insurance company just paid it. Now get this - I am 56 years old!!! Pre-natal surgery????????? ROFLOL. I called the ins company and thanked them but said it wasn't me!! They said, "nothing we can do" hahaha. I called the Dr's office and they said they'd fix it. I haven't heard any more from anyone about it. No EOB for my checkup either. Who knows what will turn up later? I kept all my paperwork and telephone notes just in case. I guess I ought to request something in writing from both the insurance company and the Dr's office, huh? breeze
It is up to the hospital to remove the notation on your credit bureau files. That is, unless you are successful at getting the credit bureau to remove it for you. As you may well know, that is entirely possible to do.
Bill, I was afraid that would be the answer. As I stated earlier, I talked to the hospital and they said the only way they would remove it is if the insurance pays. I now it will verify, but I am not sure if I ever signed papers agreeing to pay. I have been trying to get those papers from the hospital with no luck yet. If I find I didn't sign responsibility then I will try to get it removed on that account. But hopefully the insurance will pay and I can get tyhem taken off.
Carrie: I've fought with those hospitals before. I would almost be willing to bet you a grand that you did sign responsibility papers or else you didn't get service or else someone at the hospital was asleep on their feet and missed the boat on that one. That's most unlikely. While you may have some luck getting the desired answers out of the insurance company or for that matter the hospital, that too is just a bit on the unlucky side. Quite frankly, when it comes to such errors and correcting them, I have serious doubts if either of them have enough sense to chew gum and walk at the same time. It's either got to be that or they just don't want to be bothered. One is about as likely as the other. Whatever, the results are usually dismal at best.Of course, I do not discourage you from trying. It's just that I think you have a tough fight ahead of you.
Well, please tell me this...if anyone knows...I went to the billing department at the hospital and she told me they NEVER remove anything from the CRA. I really feel like I have enough evidence that someone goofed up. I didn't just delibrately not pay the bills. So my question is, if I can't get the insurance to pay after 4 years, then I will be paying myself. Who would I talk to that out ranks the billing dept at the hospital. I just don't think I want to stop with her. It seems there must be someone in that hospital that can concider the situation and help me out.
Hospitals can be a mess indeed. I can well believe that you were told that they never take anything off a credit report. I've got a deal exactly like that myself. Auto Accident deal, kid involved, settlement court adjucated, ambulance not paid until after court settlement. Knock on credit report.Ambulance refuses to remove. So I used a 100 word statement to explain the situation rather than fight about it. An explanation like that would be well understood by any creditor and the listing ignored. I'm not going to fight city hall over it and that's who owns the Amb. company. City Owned. Anyway, Ive got another way to get it off by sueing the collection agency if necessary. I've got them going on yet another deal anyway, so if I can't scare them into an out of court settlement, I'll just sue them. I've alreedy got that at the point where the last letter I sent them demanded to know the name and address of the person duly authorized to receive service of summons. OF course I don't need them to tell me such information. It's just a scare tactic which sometimes works, sometimes not. But once a creditor or a collection agency tells me they aren't about to take it off my credit report, they just slammed the door and bolted it shut on any possiblility of getting any money from me. After that, one or the other of us is going to be sueing the other, and it may be counter suited. In your case, most hospitals have a patient advocate of some sort and were I you, I would most certainly ask someone other than the credit department whether they have such an "animal" around there and if they did, I'd go see that person at the earliest possible time. Sometimes they are called patient advocates or maybe other such names. Failing that, I might even think about asking if they have a legal department. Explaining it to their attorney(s) might even get you somewhere. They want their money and they want it paid at the least possible cost. Their attorney is about the last place I'd go, but in the case of a hospital, it might be worth a shot. If their attorney starts talking nasty or gets threatening, just hang up on him. Don't do it in person and don;t ever say you owe the bill. Just say you would like to settle this matter at the earliest possible moment. After you have exhausted all your administrative remedies, including with your own insurance company, then it's time to roll up the sleeve and get out the boxing gloves and let the fight begin.
