Long story short, a bill from the hospital from 2 years ago was mailed to an incorrect address. I still have never seen this bill from the service provider.
We did get one for the situation, so we didn’t even know about this other.
Of course between the service and our knowledge of the bill, it was sent to collections, almost ruining my credit.
The hospital previously said they would fix it, today, they said no go.
I just don’t know what to do at this point.
Thanks,
It is unfortunate that hospitals border on fraud in their collection attempts from individuals. Don’t fool around with this, get an attorney to handle this situation for you. In all probability, the hospital will back down from bullying you when they are threatened with a lawsuit. What you save on your bill will more than pay for the attoroney.
I live in NYC, and back in 2001 I went to a public clinic in the East Village for a bronchial attack. When they found I was on medicare (I was 65 years old and had no private insurance), the clinic sent me to their parent, Cabrini Hospital, a supposedly Catholic institution. There, they literally performed every medical test known to man. I figured that I could afford the 20%. Was I ever surprised!
They did not bill me until about 9 month later. Then, I started to get bills from doctors that I never saw. When contacted, the doctors offices told me the doctors reviewed my records and needed payment. Then, I got bills for the use of hospital offices in which the tests were performed.
When I personally went to the hospitals business offices to find out what this was all about, they told me pay up or we will ruin your credit. Anyway, the two visits to the clinic and one visit to the hospital for “tests” cost me over $1,000.00 cash out of my pocket!
After I paid, I happened to tell an attorney friend of mine, who told me I should have contacted him. NYC hospitals regulary did such things to people who are not familiar to their practices, but they back down when facing a lawyer and possible negative publicity.
Incidentally, when I retired, I inquired about a health policy to cover the 20% MEDICARE doesn’t cover. Unfortunately, the premium for such a policy came to more a month than the pension I get from the company I worked for for 22 years.
To be honest, I never thought I would be ripped off by a Catholic institution. Thankfully, they are no longer in business!