Could use some medical/legal advice

saisongbird

Hi ladies - I figured there would be SOMEONE on here who can give me some advice.  Here's the story.

I saw my general practitioner in August of '09 and had some tests done.  My doc's office uses two labs.  My insurance accepts lab A and does not accept lab B.  The doctor's office knows this and accidentally sent the tests to lab B, and I've been receiving bills for $650+.  As soon as I got the first bill I called the doctors office and met with the office manager, who admitted that the office made a mistake and that I'm not responsible.  And each time I get another bill, I call and speak with her and she reassures me that I'm not responsible and that I won't be getting another bill.  I don't really believe her at this point, but what else can I do?

Today I get a notice that I'm in pre-collections and that if I don't pay, it's going to be moved to a collections agency.  I'm INFURIATED right now.  Clearly, this woman doesn't do her job.  I called the office and complained and of course, she's on vacation this week.  I told them that this was completely unacceptable and that this needs to be handled NOW.  Other than trying to have someone else in the office handle it, what do I do?

tldh

The office manager is your doctor's employee.  You need to contact your doctor and let him/her know what is going on ASAP.

laurenclaire1386

Is there any sort of record that this woman at the doctor's office told you you didn't have to pay it? My first instinct is to say pay it now, to avoid any credit problems this could cause, and have the dr.'s office reimburse you. Either way, the lab needs to be paid, because you don't want your credit dinged. I get not wanting to pay it because the dr's office said they'd take care of it, and they still well may. But I'd make sure the lab got paid and then straighten it out with the dr's office.

mickifyn

Is your insurance an HMO?  Have you contacted the lab directly?  Usually the dr's office can have the bill waived.  If you have an HMO they cannot bill you.

MattsPenguin

I understand wanting to pay it to help your credit, but I feel as if you pay it, then the doctor might be less inclined to reimburse you.

Not exactly the same thing, but I had some insurance issues with my tonsilectomy (my insurance being idiotic and taking the money back due to their own lack of understand of my insurance coverage at the time).  I had thousands of dollars go to collections.  It went on for over a year with me constantly calling the labs/doctors and my own insurance company.  I never paid, but had the labs/doctors make notes in my file as to the situation.  I also sent a letter to the collection agencies informing them of the situation and giving them my insurance information and case numbers. (In the letter to me, they said that if this was a mistake, to send them a letter and information). My credit has not been affected that I am aware of.

Have you contacted the lab to inform them of the situation?  Read the collection agencies letter.

Like I said my situation was on-going for over a year, and I didn't have any bounty hunters beating down my door.  Everyone was rather polite about it.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

I'd pay it now and then take them to small claims court to get reimbursed. That way your credit won't suffer and you'll force them to give you the money back.

Have you talked to your insurance? Is there any way you can get reimbursed through them?

shellydiane820

I say talk to a lawyer.

mica178

Call the collection agency first, see if you can put them in touch with the doctor's office and insurance company to straighten things out.

If not, pay the bill to avoid a blemish on your credit report.  Then, go to small claims court as Mery recommended.

marisah83

If you haven't already talked to your insurance company, you should give them a call.  Also, is either your doctor through a hospital facility or is the lab they sent it to part of a hospital?  If so, you can contact their patient financial service department and speak to a representative there.

STOLI15

At the bottom of the collection letter there should be a notice under the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act.  Read that notice specifically and you may want to dispute the debt in accordance with Federal law.

cjohnsen2010

Get the office manager to give you something in writing.  Make a copy and send it to the debt collector and medical lab.