Do NOT pay medical bills that insurance has not reviewed!

Yesterday I told you about my car accident billing. A nice nearly round $14,999.99. After the insurance assessment I owed around $2k. There was also a note on the insurance assessment, a $2k charge that could not be identified by the hospital, and could not be assessed. It stated I might owe that money. Basically they didn’t know what it was for so they could not say I didn’t owe it.  Wait, what?

Umm no. If they cannot tell you what it is, shouldn’t it be removed? That is not how it works.

So I called and asked for it to be identified and stated that until they could identify what the charge was for I did not owe it. Then I put that in writing and followed up 30 days later. They never did identify the charge. They did, however, sell the debt. When the first collection agency called I faxed them the letter. They agreed I may not owe any money. They stopped calling and sold the debt.

The second company called, same thing. You guessed it they also sold debt for pennies of what they purchased it for. That is how debt collection works. The first company buys the debt for less than it is worth, the original debtor writes off the difference. The process repeats until the debt is sold for pennies on the dollar.

I had the letter from the insurance company saying the charge was unidentified by the hospital and a letter with proof of receipt that I sent saying I was not paying until they identified it. It never showed up on my credit and eventually the calls stopped coming.

Unfortunately this happens far more often than it should. If you experience billing issues, question it, document it, and keep all your records. Do not just pay the bill. You have more important places for your money to work for you. Have you ever heard of something like this? Been billed incorrectly and had a bill denied?

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