Medical collection - Should I sue ?

[drewnrupe98]

In 2002 I discovered a collection account on my equifax report.

This was for an ambulance trip that should have been paid by insurance. I contacted OC and determined that they had two bills outstanding for me, one for treatment and one for Ambulance. The Treatment had not gone to collections and I paid this in full to prevent it doing so.

They referred me to the CA regarding the other bill.

The CA were a pain and would not accept a pay for delete. On investigation I discovered that they had not even put a claim in on my insurance ( this was out of state and they had tried to claim against BCBS of GA not Florida ). My feeling is that implicit in my agreement to cover charges not paid by insurance is the understanding that they will correctly attempt to collect from the insurance provider first.

I informed them of this and apparently they refiled the claim as the amoutn they were reporting changed from 300 + down to $4.20 , although I was never informed of this.

When I DVd the CA they sent me a copy of the treatment form submitted by the Ambulance driver as validation - this showed what drugs etc had been administered.

I wrote several times to OC and CA regarding the disclosure of this infomation but this was prior to HIPPA implementation. Basically the OC has ignored all correspondance.

I sent the outstanding amount of $4.20 to the CA with a restrictive endorsement for delete and they returned it uncashed. I then sent a letter of complaint to OC enclosing a check for the $4.20 CMRR.

Last month I decided to have another go at this. Sent a letter to OC , citing HIPPA , and them disclosing info on a paid account had no purpose.

Disputed with the CRA. Right on day 30 my CR has been updated as verified.

Im wondering where to go from here. I will follwo up with CRA on method of verification. Thinking an ITS to the OC and or CA. but that would be just on the most recent violations of verifiying when disputed and inaccurate information.

The provider was in GA as is the Collection Agency, which is where the services were provided. I am in Florida but I dont think there is an issue with them collecting from me here without being registered to do business or licensed here is there ?

Any opinions or suggestions on other approaches would be welcome. These guys have really gotten under my skin wiht their attitude and then ignoring me.

Thanks

Drew

[Revco]

I understand you're caught up in this and you're pissed off. I'm dealing with a similar thing for a matter of $25.00. We're talking about a matter of $4.20??? OK...if you go to a lawyer...they're likely going to ask for a retainer for FAR more than that amount. If you go pro-se...is it worth the hours spent? Would you be better served just putting a consumer statement on your CR explaining what happened? I think most places looking at your CR and seeing a paid item for less than 5 bucks and an explanation are going to totally ignore it. Yeah...it's hurting your score...I understand...but score is not the be-all-end-all when it comes to getting credit.

Would your insurance company have paid 100%?? I have good insurance and they only pay 80% of emergency services. I think you got a pretty good deal getting the item dropped from $300 to $4.20.

It sucks to give up...I know...and they can sure piss a person off and seriously damage a person' financial credibility. But they realize that they CAN ignore you because there's likely not going to be any legal action over it. Only send that ITS unless you absolutely intend to sue.

Honestly, though, I think you do have a pretty good case here. You'll want to check into the UCC for Florida AND Georgia to make sure the accord & satisfaction was met on your restrictive endorsement. You can find out about that here:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uniform/ucc.html

Good luck!

[Guest]

The poster tried to pay and it was returned to him...

They basically decided that his check wasnt good enough. He has made an attempt and they have ignored it..

I say this is worth suing... you might wanna try and find a contingent based consumer lawyer...they are out there.

[drewnrupe98]

Thanks for the input.

Yes I relise that this is a small amount and certainly wouldnt be looking at hiring an attorney. I dont know what damage it is doing to my report , but it is the only collection I have showing and its only on one report , so it would be nice to get it gone.

Especially as I feel it is unjust. I am more than happy to invest some time in this if there really is a case. Altrnatively I can go the route of a formal hippa complaint depending on what I can get from the CRA regarding the verification.

My main issue is that I am not having much luck proving that i paid the balance to the OC. dont have cancelled check, just acompanying letter and CMRR

The restictive endorsement is a non issue as it was to CA and they returned that check.

The previous violations I beleive are now too old so this will come down to what i can get them on this time around.

Cant decide if to pursue the FCRA or try and get them to screw themselves on HIPAA.

[DocDon]

Was it finally paid by your insurance?

[drewnrupe98]

I ASSUME that the insurance paid the majority of it, leaving a $4.20 balance. This is the par that i paid to the OC.

I was never informed that insurance had paid anything, however the balance dropepd from over 300 to 4.20 after I pointed out that they had not billed the correct insurance company.

Drew

[dpgirl]

Contact your insurance company to find out if they paid. You may not even owe the measly $4.20. Ask them for a copy of your explanation of benefits... you should have received one already. The $4.20 may be an amount that they are required to write off. Your EOB will tell you that.

It would seem that the only logical conclusion would be that the insurance paid.

[DocDon]

Yeh. $4.20 is an oversight, not an unwillingess to pay.