Update on Medical Collection in Texas

[AccountnotMine]

a while back I asked if my wife's medical bills paid by my insurance could hurt my credit when the co-pay and deductable was not paid.... what I have found:

First off I am a nurse and have found that the consumer can hide behind HIPPA if the hospital and or CA mess up like they did with me. They sent me a bill in my name for my wife's procedure. In this bill, they included the medical care recieved. When I got the letter from the CA I wrote back denying that I, Micah Smith, ever recieved treatment by the facility and denied knowledge of the charges and requested validation when they threatened to ruin my new and nearly clean credit reports. Low and behold less than a week later my wife recieved a letter asking for her signature to release her medical records for the purpose of debt validation by the CA. I immediatly told her the situation and we shreaded the form.

The HIPPA violation was they notified someone else of her procedures and medical care without her consent (even if your married under federal law they CANNOT DO THIS, they cannot notify the spouse of medical care recieved in detail without consent). HIPPA violations are subject to a maximum of 10,000.00 in fines. In my case, my wife had an emergency DNC (sadly), and the hospital doesn't know if my wife wanted me to know (for all they know it was someone elses baby in there).

I know this sounds shady by me, but honestly that is a different topic. If we all paid cash for medical procedures they would be less than 40% of what they cost now and the hospital does profit without your deductables and copays, and get a fat tax write off for unpaid balances.