what do you make of this? (long, insurance-related issue)
Julia-Henry
member
So dd was born at the end of Feb and we've been sorting out the insurance/copays/nuisance stuff ever since. About 10 days ago, we got a bill from a collections agency for $73. to be paid to the hospital where I had dd. It was for a charge that our insurance company said was disputed and they had told us not to pay it in the first place. We contacted insurance co, were told to ignore, etc. So we did.
Today I got another bill from the collections agency, so I called the hospital. Was told we owed it and to pay or it would go against our credit rating. I told the woman from the hospital business office that I felt stuck between the insurance company and the hospital and asked them to pull it back from collections and give us a week to sort it out, she said they couldn't. I was calm and polite but somewhat annoyed throughout conversation, and I told her I wasn't impressed with the hospital's practices of sending a claim on less than 3 months after the event. Anyway, she hung up on me!
5 minutes later she called me back, was very polite, sorry we had been "cut off" etc. Said she had spoken to the billings department and that the 'codes didn't add up' so she had pulled our file back from the collections agency and would get it sorted out on tuesday, and that we were not to pay, she would be in touch, etc.
Something seems weird to me. Did she call back just because she was afraid I'd call and report her for hanging up? is she secretly sending our info on to every collections agency and screwing us? or was it just a misunderstanding that she's working to correct?
what do you think? I'm suspicious. 
Re: what do you make of this? (long, insurance-related issue)
Did you get her name?
I think whatever happened with the hangup, she said it would be sorted out. You could call back and confirm... if you get the same woman, you can say you were so confused you forgot to get her name. If you get someone else, you could get confirmation that the file has been pulled, then get *that* person's name.
Good luck!
I bet after she hung up on you, she actually looked at the file and realized something WAS wrong and sheepishly called you back.
I think you're okay now.
This would be my guess too. And having worked in hospitals for more years than I'd like to admit, reporting outstanding balances to a collections agency within 90 days is a pretty common practice, not a great one, but common. At one place I worked, it happened to the employees on a regular basis. GL
I would send a dispute letter to the collection agency while you're sorting this out. This requires them to investigate it, and if the hospital can't prove it to them that you owe it, they can't collect it from you.
Chances are it's just a misunderstanding, but I'd send the letter anyway.