1 yr old medical collection question..

[Anonymous]

I got a collection letter (settlement offer) today for a 1 year old hospital bill (june of 2013) for my 7 year old son, he has had medicaid since he was born, it's the first thing I have gotten in regards to this ER visit last year. I didn't think nothing of not getting a bill or anything bc he has medicaid! Well I call this collection agency to let them know my son had medicaid (when I called I hadn't even noticed the date was June 2013) and the RUDE lady tells me I didn't give any insurance info, I said the insurance people come into the room and ask if all the info is correct (name, address, phone, insurance etc) and have you sign the paper saying it's correct and sign the consent for treatment, HIPPA etc... they already had my sons insurance info so yes, I did give them his ins info... so I asked if I should call the hospital and she's like No, they cant bill the insurance company it's been a year.. so I was like Ok, well thank you, and then she hung up on me... there's no way I am paying this, and it's been reported and is on my CR. This particualr hospital bills the physican and any labs or radiology you may have separately... so there could be like 3 diff bills from this one visit reporting as collections. I'm not quite sure what to do here... since the ins can't be billed, would it benefit me to get a letter from medicaid stating he had medicaid on that date and send it to the CA and ask them to remove it? Or send it to the OC (the hospital)? This would explain why I have about 10 medical collections on my CR :/ 3 are from this 1 visit

[alienfico]

I know others will probably chime in because they have more experience....however, I had a similar situation such as yours except the charge physician was gracious enough to pull the hospital bills/laboratory bills and have them sent to her to process through her office to our insurance.  When I called to settle things I was told by the hospital that the doctor had it processed through her office.  Even though the hospital had all 3 insurances - my daughter is covered by a PPO, HMO, and MediCal...they still screwed it up.  

I would suggest that you get the billing statements from the hospital and what you signed off when you submitted your insurance card.  I do know that state insurance programs won't pay after a year, however, they will make an exception if the error was on the end of the billing dept. of the medical provider, after all you did your part by giving them your card, it is up to them to process the info in a timely manner or contact you (mail/phone) if they were missing info. 

Like I stated, others will probably chime in with better options....

[kjel]

I had a similar issue a couple years ago. I had Medicaid (due to pregnancy) and employer insurance (deemed pregnancy to be pre-existing). Something in the Medicaid system went awry one day while I was in the doc office and my coverage came back invalid. They billed the employer insurance. I called Medicaid and they said my file was duplicated so it was kicked out of the system but it would be fixed and tell the doc to back bill for the visit. They tried unsuccessfully for 18 months to get either insurance to pay for the visit. It ended up in collections and I paid out of pocket for it.

[Anonymous]

Thank you both for your responses! I'm def not paying out of pocket for it! I guess I will put in a call to the hospital to see if they can send me the documents I signed etc... I didn't present my card, I never do, bc they already have my sons ins info on file as he's been to this hospital many time before and he was born there, and has the sameins he's had since he was born.. that's why they just had me sign the paper stating everything was correct.

[Burned2manybridgesB4]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you both for your responses! I'm def not paying out of pocket for it! I guess I will put in a call to the hospital to see if they can send me the documents I signed etc... I didn't present my card, I never do, bc they already have my sons ins info on file as he's been to this hospital many time before and he was born there, and has the sameins he's had since he was born.. that's why they just had me sign the paper stating everything was correct.

---

I'm not entirely familiar with Medicaid, but do you have any type of liasion, or case manager that you must contact for service?

[Anonymous]

---

@Burned2manybridgesB4 wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you both for your responses! I'm def not paying out of pocket for it! I guess I will put in a call to the hospital to see if they can send me the documents I signed etc... I didn't present my card, I never do, bc they already have my sons ins info on file as he's been to this hospital many time before and he was born there, and has the sameins he's had since he was born.. that's why they just had me sign the paper stating everything was correct.

---

I'm not entirely familiar with Medicaid, but do you have any type of liasion, or case manager that you must contact for service?

---

No :/ there's no case worker assigned to certain cases.. it's just all under the Dept of children and families.. Im sure getting proof I had insurance won't be an issue, i'm just not sure who to call/send proof to in order to get this removed from my CR

[Burned2manybridgesB4]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@Burned2manybridgesB4 wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Thank you both for your responses! I'm def not paying out of pocket for it! I guess I will put in a call to the hospital to see if they can send me the documents I signed etc... I didn't present my card, I never do, bc they already have my sons ins info on file as he's been to this hospital many time before and he was born there, and has the sameins he's had since he was born.. that's why they just had me sign the paper stating everything was correct.

---

I'm not entirely familiar with Medicaid, but do you have any type of liasion, or case manager that you must contact for service?

---

No :/ there's no case worker assigned to certain cases.. it's just all under the Dept of children and families.. Im sure getting proof I had insurance won't be an issue, i'm just not sure who to call/send proof to in order to get this removed from my CR

---

Call the frontline CSR for that program, and ask who to talk to about the situation. You're going to have to become a little agressive to clear this up.