DW's Medical collection letter sent with MY name on it as well

[CleverCynic]

Hey guys, couple questions.

Ok my wife had a cautionary hysterectomy back in last September due to phase 1 cervical cancer.

On that day, her parents drove her to the appointment while I waited home for the kids to come back from school. Once home and I received word that the procedure was over, we traded, the kids stayed the night with their grandparents and I stayed at the hospital during recovery until she was released the next day. She had insurance and is only liable for copays.

Most of the bills come in her name only, but THIS one from the anesthesiologist is addressed to my wife and Myself.

Knowing there was no way they could possibly have ANYTHING showing I incurred the debt or even co-signed for the debt, I believe this is an FDCPA violation in writing in the palms of my hand, as a least sophisticated consumer would assume they were seperately and severally liable for the debt.

So tommorrow I plan to call them and ask what happens if I cannot pay the debt. Then what happens if I refuse a payment plan, and after presumably being sued, how they intend to collect (no garnishment in NC). After these questions are answered I intend to ask why my name appears on this bill and why they are willing to discuss my wife's debt with me.

The bill is for $552.63 and I believe I can make it go away with a simple phone call and some demands, as they will have violated by addressing to me, and probably citing at least 3 legal remedies that are not in fact available to them.

At that point I will demand that over the next 7-10 days they perform their own "discovery" of how they got into this predicament... any copy of a document showing I incurred or signed for this debt. And upon failure, they will need to send me a letter of apology including that all collection attempts will cease as the account is closed, and furthermore the debt will not be sold.

Failing that option, I will be running this correspondence down to the courthouse and filing suit for as many FDCPA violation as have occurred and simply paying the debt from that award - as their second choice.

My quesion is, does it matter if they own the debt or are just hired to collect it? Does it change their liability under FDCPA under various arrangements?

Also, what if it turns out to be the original creditor, what is the best I can hope for, I at minimum need to be removed from all ties to this debt and any further correspondence.

The letter came from Spartan Financial Services on behalf of the practice.

Thanks for the help guys. I'm thinking this will be a quick win in a single phone call and followup filing if necessary. At minimum I have the original letter implying I am responsible for the debt.

[hiblues]

Not to scold you or anything and I'm not trying to be a smart a$$ but,

I guess I'm confused as to why why why, knowing all you know about CA's, would you let this go to Collections?

Was this a dunning they sent?

Did you try to work out a hardship arrangement?

Just for the record for anyone reading this .... , medical bills (while still with the OC) are pretty easy to negotiate down

and get a reasonable payment arrangement.. it just have to be done before it goes to a CA. Just give them a sob story

and bam! 50% off and low monthly payments., or in one of my cases no discount but they gave me $30 an month

on a $2,200 bill (nice)

[CleverCynic]

My wife and I have completely seperate financial lives: separate checking accounts, credit accounts etc.. We did this largely to eliminate any fuss over spendings of our respective hobbies and whatnot to have to discuss every wanton expense together. Currently she has her own health insurance while I don't have any. In times of need we certainly help each other out and I would have kicked in on this as well.

However, she has always taken this mail sorting it for herself, so I only happened to catch a glimpse of my name on an open piece of mail and read it.

They are not reporting on either of our reports at the moment, so I don't really know how far it's gotten. However, including me in the debt is a huge mistake on their part and I intend to negotiate to have the account closed. There were several other bills for other copays and many have been paid outright, and there is at least one other under a payment plan. This one is the largest, and I'm sorry but I didn't spend the last 6 months over here learning to assert my rights for nothing.

As a student, it is absolutely imperative that I have no new collections go onto my reports in order to continue qualifying for my funding. This letter is a serious threat to my (our) future and I will address it accordingly. In the process of my defense it is likely she will be alleviated from the debt in informal settlement with no monies exchanging hands either way.

[hiblues]

OK, that makes sense because I know you are way to smart to get any new collections...

So it comes down to how the CA received the OC's bill.

If your name was on the original bill from the OC, then I'd say a Judge would hold the CA harmless ( and you may have to go after the OC)

but

if the OC's bill only had her name on it and the CA added your name, then that is a different story.

also you said

as they will have violated by addressing to me, and probably citing at least 3 legal remedies that are not in fact available to them.

what were they?

also,

did they send a dunning?

did you DV?

oh, and

NC is a 1 party Statefor recorded calls-- do you have your recording device?

[CleverCynic]

This doesn't appear to be a dunning, but a repeat request for payment.

Reporting, Suing, and/or garnishing would be the 3 things I would be listening for in respect to remedies against ME, who shouldn't be named at all on the bill.

Last night I was really upset about this. Today I'm settled down a bit and just want to get to the bottom of my name being on the bill and have it removed. The debt itself I'm sure is valid assuming no insurance opportunities were left unused.

[Recovering Attorney]

You are her husband. Your staus as such is probably on a chart somewhere.

A spouse is legally responsible for "necessaries" provided to the other. Medical services are necessaries. (I sued a guy once for his estranged wife's OB/GYN bill for delivering another man's baby). So, I do not see where they did anything wrong.

Better to focus on why this bill wasn't picked up by her insurance carrier. Ask the CA why they didn't submit it to insurance. You could both dispute it as " covered by insurance", but I wouldn't be runnning to the courthouse just yet.

[Rick9972]

I have to agree with Recovering here. You are a long way away from sueing anyone over this yet. I have almost the exact same situation with my DW. I would highly recommend you reach some sort of agreement to pay it, if it is not reporting.

As to the "necessaries" by common law a husband is reponsible for providing these to his spouse. However to quote my NACA lawyer on my case: "A woman is no longer chatel(sp). She now has the right and ability to earn a income and if she has the means to provide the "necessaries" for herself, a husband is not obligated to provide them."

Thus the CA's answer is that she did not pay it, thus she does not have the means. Your answer is "has a court deemed her insolvent?" As you can see this gets real messy real quick. I would make a settlement if possible.

Just my opinion.

[CleverCynic]

Ok, well I called and he said he didn't see my name on the account and couldn't explain why my name was on the mailing.

I happily arranged for $50/month and made first payment over the phone with the strict understanding it was not to automatically recur.

They claim it won't be reported as long as the arrangement is held.

-The End

p.s. thanks for talking me down guys.

Recovering, that is disgusting!

[Amerikaner83]

Did I miss the action?

50 a month eh? Hmm...Why did her insurance not cover this, I wonder as well.

[CleverCynic]

That's not a mystery, her coverage is 80/20. The procedure was about 10G.

[isislc]

You are her husband. Your staus as such is probably on a chart somewhere.

A spouse is legally responsible for "necessaries" provided to the other. Medical services are necessaries. (I sued a guy once for his estranged wife's OB/GYN bill for delivering another man's baby). So, I do not see where they did anything wrong.

Better to focus on why this bill wasn't picked up by her insurance carrier. Ask the CA why they didn't submit it to insurance. You could both dispute it as " covered by insurance", but I wouldn't be runnning to the courthouse just yet.

That's what I'm thinking, somewhere on the chart you are listed as the husband and they assumed. But hoping it is not too late, contact her insurance to find out what the their policy is for "date of timely filing". Usually this can be anywhere from 6 months to 2 years. If it is still within timely filing the insurance company can take over on this debt. If it isn't, then sorry hun, you both will get stuck with it. If you have a payment plan going, you still might want to check on those charges. Sure the procedure may have been 10k but anesths' usually bill seperately and could have been missed by insurance. I got that when my daughter had an emergency procedure. You might still be able to knock that amount down a little.