Question:
All my hospital bills have been paid in full by my insurance company.
I just received 2 bills from a collection agency.
One bill is for $3000. The other is for $2900.
They claim to represent the hospital.
They threaten to report these debts to a credit bureau and/or to litigation unless I pay them.
How should I handle this?
Answer:
NEVER respond to a collection agency. If they happen to call you and you
are stupid enough to answer the phone, immediately insist that they never
contact you again regarding a debt that you do not owe, and do NOT give them
any DETAILS. Don't discuss the matter with the collection agency at all.
First call should be to your insurance company. Ask your insurance company
if there are any outstanding claims on your account that have not been paid.
If so, find out why.
Second call should be to the hospital billing department. See if there are
any outstanding claims on your account that haven't been paid by your
insurance company that YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY isn't aware of.
I suspect on these two phone calls you will find out that a simple billing
error has been made somewhere. Fix the billing error. Ignore the
collection agency. Never deal with a third party about billing issues,
ESPECIALLY collection agencies and ESPECIALLY about debts you are reasonably
sure you do not owe.
