Does anyone have any advice about a medical bill that was sent to collections, yet I never received the final bill before my account was sent to collections?

Long story short - I found billing errors on the initial itemized hospital statement. I reported the errors to the hospital and to my insurance. I kept checking for updates but was told the new claim was still processing. I received a letter in the mail today from a collection agency. I'm blindsided because I never received the final updated bill from the hospital.

I plan to call the hospital on Monday to get to the bottom of this. I'm livid and I don't want this debt collection to show up on my credit report.

I can pay the amount in full, and have planned to all along once I received the final bill - but I want to make sure I go through the proper channels now that it's in collections so this doesn't cause problems for me in the long run.

Yes, that's your first step: call the hospital. Then call the collections agency and tell them you have been disputing the bill.

Other, more knowledgeable people may advise you to file something with the credit reporting services. I have had medical bills go to collection in similar circumstances and never showed up on my credit report.

Is there a good reason you might not have received the bill? Like you moved or a roommate/family member handling mail?

Best wishes.

Calling is ok but it does not protect any of your rights. Send via US Snale a letter stating that the account is in dispute. Probably should send certified.
If the bill is incorrect and insurance paid any part of it you can also contact your insurance and they will also contact the provider and have far more leverage than you do.

No, they had my correct address. I even talked the billing department a month ago while inquiring about a separate bill and confirmed my address. I asked about this particular bill and was told it was still processing.

I didn't think about including my insurance provider in the conversation. I will do that. I started drafting a dispute letter to the collection agency.

I also recommend you tell the collection agency that all future corespondance will be in writing. Keeps them from claiming you or they said something and if it ever gets tout the lawyer stage there will be a complete paper trail.

I had a similar issue with a medical bill that was sent to collections. I was making monthly payments on it, and never received a call to pay in full before they sent it to collections.

Once I got the call from collections, I immediately paid the bill in full. But, it was too late and the debt was already reported to the credit agencies. Also, I got double dinged because I paid off the collections debt "too quickly".

I've since disputed the charge and tried to get it removed from my credit but I have not had any success.

I had a similar experience. Sent to collections after receiving only one bill (which I disputed). I was told once it went to collections, neither the hospital nor insurance could change that. I didn't want the headache so I paid it even though I never got a satisfactory or decisive answer on the issues in dispute.

I feel like this is yet another example of how the way people are charged and have to pay for medical care (especially in emergency situations) is messed up. Too bad the lobby that wants that situation to continue is more powerful than however many people who contact legislators.

none of these were at the Med were they? I've had 2 surgeries there this year and supposedly they are still filing the remainder due with insurance (and have told me not to pay the overage). I'm great with this, I just want to make sure that happens! I'm going to keep checking with them every couple weeks.

A lot of this is very automatic. These billing systems have a timeline, and if there is a snafu somewhere-- either a mistake on a bill or a bill that didn't make it to you for some reason, the program still just sees it as 30,60,90 or 120 days past due. And there is a point at which (no matter why) a bill will roll into collections. It's just a machine. However, there are people there in the business office who are (usually) more than happy to talk and listen to you about these issues. Just call.

Welcome to Hospital Billing 101 Class. That's what they do.

Once they turn it over to collection agency, the hospital is finished. They won't answer questions, deal with disputes, etc. It's dead to them. Talking to them won't accomplish anything except make you angrier.

And the collection agency doesn't care about the bad billing or your problems. They want full amount. They bought it on the cheap. So they'll move on to somebody else fairly quickly. Low ball them.

Collection agencies and reporting it to credit agencies is a scam

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none of these were at the Med were they? I've had 2 surgeries there this year and supposedly they are still filing the remainder due with insurance (and have told me not to pay the overage). I'm great with this, I just want to make sure that happens! I'm going to keep checking with them every couple weeks.

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No, it's not the Med. My phone call to the Houston billing office this morning wasn't productive. After stating that I never received a final bill, the representative says, "Well, we've been having mail problems in Houston for a while now."

I just received my first phone call from the debt collection agency a few minutes ago. I can tell this will be all kinds of fun. A certified letter will be in the mail to them today.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice.

If this is Scoot and white, I have gone through this with them twice. Once for me and once for my son.

Both are wrong and the same thing happened.

They did tell me during all this that they will never ever report it to credit, so it won't ding you there. they just hire a independent collection firm to try and get your money.

The entire industries billing effort is a extreme cluster Eff and shows no sign of ever being corrected.

I had a lender tell me that they do not take medical claims into consideration when lending because these things are quite common. Now I am sure that if there were numerous claims going to collection agencies they may look at it a little different.