New Lows In Hospital Management: Auctioning Patient Debt

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  LisaGreim06/05/08 Report as spam
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  Hospital Bills Years Old

  We get them all the time, on services as far back as 2003. Frequently, the hospital is trying to collect on charges that the insurance company declined (like double billing for an exam room charge) or discounted. You have to stay on top of your EOBs and past bills, then call and say, "Ahem, this is illegal," and the hospital rep will say, "Yeah, you're right, sorry about that."
  
  But we know it's illegal, we keep copies of everything, we're pretty good at math, we speak good English and (most importantly) we're not currently stressed out by illness. You have to think that this system counts on x percent of recipients not recognizing an old bill, being new to the situation (an executor or an adult child now handling Mom's finances) or being too damn beaten down to care.
  
  A month or so ago, charges we resolved years ago started showing up again. I wonder if the institution in question has sold them to a new factoring company.