@Anonymous wrote:Hi all,
Back in May of 2018, I was on anxiety medication to prevent panic attacks. I requested a refill of my anxiety medication with my doctors at the time in California and they refused - they demanded that I come in for my annual physical, or else they would not administer the medication. So, I came in. During my physical, they asked if I'd like to be administered the next HPV vaccine. I needed it anyway and they recommended that I do it, so I did.
Weeks later, I got a bill in the mail for 1300 dollars, claiming that my insurance (which has always covered my visits there) did not cover the visit nor the HPV vaccine. I argued with my insurance company to have them rebill the visit as an emergency visit, but they refused to rebill the vaccine. As a result, I received a new 900 dollar bill. I called the doctors office and asked to negotiate the price. They managed to get it down to 450 and said they'd send a new statement. They never did. Instead, I got a notice in the mail a month or so later that the bill had been sent to USCB collections.
The bill is mine, but my question is: how do I go about paying it? The bill went to collections in April -- it's now July, so it's only been 4 months. I now have the money to pay it (I was about to be unemployed when I negotiated the bill originally), but I want to make sure that I have a paper trail confirming without a doubt that this debt was paid so that this agency (which is known for being shady) does not come knocking months or years down the line with new fees, or putting items on my report that don't belong there and destroy my credit.
1) What is the safest method for paying medical collections? Cashier's check? Online bill pay? What if this collections agency says they don't allow those methods and demand my debit card information?
2) Has anyone dealt with USCB Collections specifically before? I heard they are the shadiest of them all and need to know how to protect myself. I've never had any credit issues up until this point and am happy to pay to make this go away -- I just want to make sure it stays away.
Make a deal for no reporting on your CR in exchange for payment. Cashiers Check or credit card is they way to pay such an agency. Here are the normal steps to go thru on a medical collection, you have done the first already.
1. Call the OC and see if insurance can be billed, (or-rebilled), collections ultimately paid by insurance get removed per new rules that came from CRAs settlement with 22 state AGs. If not then
2. see if you qualify for Charity Care, if not then
3. ask that they recall the collection in exchange for full payment
4. Send the reporting CA a PFD offer
5. Google the HIPAA Process and contact its creator for help, this process cannot be discussed in any forum of myFico.
