topic Re: OLD BILLS in General Credit Topics

OLD BILLS

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:34:30 GMT

TWO old bills from over a year ago and called me. Am I liable for their mistakes?

Re: OLD BILLS

llecs — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:58:53 GMT

Did a company just send you a bill on services rendered 2 years ago? Did you use that product or service?

Re: OLD BILLS

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:04:04 GMT

they sent me 2 bills that they found after a year. yes I used them. had a stroke.

Re: OLD BILLS

llecs — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:37:13 GMT

Legally they can do that. There's not a time limit they have to bill you. Inconvenience to you maybe,. The only thing that precludes them from making you legally liable for the bill is if SOL expired, and that likely hasn't passed yet.

Re: OLD BILLS

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:42:57 GMT

Evidently one of them was the fact that they didm't get precertification from my insurance co.

The other one seems to be some kind of co-pay.

I'm not sure of their bookkeeping. It's like over 5000. WTF??

Re: OLD BILLS

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:32:35 GMT

So we're talking medical bills, right?

Assuming you had insurance, insurance companies sometimes have requirements as to the timeline in which they must bill the insurance company and you. The agreement with the insurance company and the medical provider may be an effective cudgel with which to beat them, and insurance companies can be incredible specific with medical providers.

Re: OLD BILLS

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:36:09 GMT

They were out of network. Would this still apply.

Re: OLD BILLS

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:51:34 GMT

Since they're out of network, then unfortunately there's no agreement between the insurance company and the provider. However, state laws may obtain for the timely submittal and processing of medical claims. It's still possible the provider could be beyond a statutory limit.

I'd gather up all the info and paperwork you have, then give the insurance company a call. They'll want to know the dates of service, name of the patient, SSNs, address at the time, etc. You might get bounced between a couple of folks until you find the right person. Remain patient. Older claims might be archived, moved to the responsibility of a different group, et al.

Appear lost and in need of help.

Hi, um, ah, I'm calling about some, er, information on some medical claims. But I'm not sure who to talk to, um, can you help me?

If you appear lost and in need of help, people have an instinct to help, and they might possibly volunteer more helpful and useful information than they might otherwise volunteer.

Once you're talking to someone about the dates of service and claims, tell them the doctor's office sent the bill to a CA and you wanted to try and find out whatever details you can about the claim, when it was submitted, did the claim get rejected, etc. The doctor's office may not have coded something correctly or may not have responded to the insurance company when they asked for more information.

Sometimes insurance companies will volunteer to call the doctor's office on your behalf. Let them. When the insurance company comes calling, particularly if the provider screwed up, the provider tends to take notice and act to rectify the situation.

Re: OLD BILLS

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:36:24 GMT

If the insurance plan is through an employer you may want to contact the HR department. They may be able to help you. Also the insurance broker may be able to help.

Re: OLD BILLS

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:59:23 GMT

The nursing home is owned by the state of NH.

So the hospital which is next door is in network and nursing home is not.

Looks like I'm on the hook for the co-pay which is 2500. Normally 250. I thought there

was no copay if you were admitted.

I have called insurance at work and asked for statement which they said

they can't send unless I sign a release.

What a mess.