Need help with medicial collections. I am new to this. PLEASE :)

[Anonymous]

I have 8 medicial collection accounts on my reports, totaling $5515.00. I need some help with this please. 

Is the med collection on your reports? yes

  

Is it paid or unpaid? unpaid

  

If paid, who did you pay, the OC (original creditor: doctor, dentist, hospital, etc.) or the CA (collection agency)? n/a

 

If unpaid, do you have the money to pay it off in full? no

  

Do you remember the date(s) of treatment? I think so

  

Have you ever disputed the med collection? If yes, when and how? No, never know of it, found out my insurance didn’t pay.

 

If you did dispute the collection, is it currently marked as "disputed and/or verified" on your report(s)? N/A

 Have you ever requested debt validation from the CA? If yes, what did they send you and when did you receive it? no

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the forum lyngon30.

Medical is different from other collection......non-medical drops from your CR approx 7 years from DOFD.  Medical drops 7 years from date of service.

HIPAA process is used only for paid medical, or making  full payment .

Most hospital debt has no SOL but unless a judgment is filed it will drop in 7 years.

If you can afford to pay 1 at a time then you can use the HIPAA process to make that payment.

If some are way too much to PIF then I would start making payments to the OC until it is PIF. Never pay a CA!

When making payments always use the restrictive endorsement and...If one OC has multi accounts then be sure to pay each separate!  One check with the account # and restrictive endorsement for each account.

When using the HIPAA process you must start from the beginning and follow it to the end.

Do not dispute or use HIPAA process for unpaid medical collections unless you can PIF using it.

Message Edited by HappyDays on 05-14-2009 11:31 AM

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for your wealth of useful information. 

[Anonymous]

You are more then welcome. Always feel free to ask as many questions as you need.