Question:
This matter is in California.
My insurance company indicated that my plan allowed me to go to a
chiropractor without a referral (I have a phone record of the person I
spoke with).
I went to the chiropractor and they billed my insurance.
The insurance agent I spoke with was wrong...a referral was
required...so they denied the claim.
My chiropractor insists I pay this debt immediately or he will turn it
over to a collections agency.
My insurance company doesn't do anything immediately so it will take
some time to get them to accept the blame (if ever).
Long story short, I am trying to find out the risk in allowing this
claim to go to collection? I am perfectly fine dealing with them
instead of my chiropractor as I have discovered I seem to have a lot
more rights as consumer against a collection agency. What I don't
know, though, is if/how can they affect my credit rating? Does simply
turning the claim over to collection put a blemish on my rating? In
fact, what actions can either party take to affect my credit rating.
Similarly, what power do I have to stop them until I can get my
insurance to be culpable?
Answer:
I STRONGLY urge you to pay this before it goes to collection.
Once it goes to collection, it will be reported on your credit reports,
no matter who was at fault, no matter if the insurance company
eventually pays, it will stick like gluey s__t to your report for 7
years.
You can always recover your costs in the future from your insurance
company, but to remove derogatory information from your credit report is
a Sisyphian task.
