Hi all,
So I’m back with another dilemma – for anyone that helped me with my complicated dental bill, thank you so much! I was able to get insurance to cover the claim and saved almost $1K! I really appreciate this community for telling people what their rights are when it comes to insurance. It’s so hard to navigate by yourself!
Unfortunately I’ve got another dilemma. I have a medical bill that was sent to collections, and it hasn’t even been 180 days since my visit (which was early December). What’s more, the pathology wasn’t read until late December and I didn’t get the full bill until Jan 31.
The bill was a “surprise” bill where the dermatologist was in-network with my new insurance, but the doctor they had do the pathology report for a suspicious mole was not. When I asked my doctor during the visit if getting the mole checked would be covered under my plan, she assured me it would be fine (I learned that the doctor has no clue after this and you have to check with your insurance, but I didn’t know this at the time). I can’t remember what term she said about why it would be fine and definitely covered — she didn’t say in-network, but maybe “in-house”?
I got the bill back and only needed to pay 15% of any work she did, which was fine and expected. But then I got a $200 bill on Jan 31 from another doctor who did the pathology. He’s in the umbrella group for the dermatologist I saw, but not in-network, and I have no out-of-network benefits.
I’ve been overwhelmed with all these different bills and work and I don’t have a ton of money to pay as I’m low-income, so I just now asked my insurance to check on this two weeks ago. (They confirmed it’s out of network and said my next step is to appeal, but I think I would lose the appeal as that pathologist doctor is definitely out-of-network.)
However, as of last week I realized they sent this $200 bill to collections. That’s despite my insurance checking with them very recently, and they never reached out over phone or anything.
My main question is: is there a way for me to get this taken off collections so it doesn’t damage my credit score? If I call the doctor’s office is there a way I can convince them to do that? I’m definitely ready to write a review about my negative experience to push them — after we discuss it one-to-one on the phone and go over where everyone stands, of course, but I know reviews can push the office along if they know something makes them look bad. And I do want to warn other people with my insurance about this if they can’t help me get this settled.
Also: can I argue that they sent this in under 180 days and that’s not fair? At this point, it’s only $200 and I’ll pay the bill if it means it will prevent damage to my credit score.
I’ve never encountered this before and would really appreciate any advice! Also, if it helps, I’m in TX.
Edit: I just called the collections agency and they said they haven’t yet reported this to any credit bureaus. I’m definitely researching this myself as much as possible but if anyone has any knowledge of this I would super appreciate it! For instance, if I pay now, will the collections agency for sure not report this debt? I would assume so but it seems complicated…
submitted by /u/dothesamba
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Hi all, So I’m back with another dilemma – for anyone that helped me with my complicated dental bill, thank you so much! I was able to get insurance to cover the claim and saved almost $1K! I really appreciate this community for telling people what their rights are when it comes to insurance. It’s so hard to navigate by yourself! Unfortunately I’ve got another dilemma. I have a medical bill that was sent to collections, and it hasn’t even been 180 days since my visit (which was early December). What’s more, the pathology wasn’t read until late December and I didn’t get the full bill until Jan 31. The bill was a “surprise” bill where the dermatologist was in-network with my new insurance, but the doctor they had do the pathology report for a suspicious mole was not. When I asked my doctor during the visit if getting the mole checked would be covered under my plan, she assured me it would be fine (I learned that the doctor has no clue after this and you have to check with your insurance, but I didn’t know this at the time). I can’t remember what term she said about why it would be fine and definitely covered — she didn’t say in-network, but maybe “in-house”? I got the bill back and only needed to pay 15% of any work she did, which was fine and expected. But then I got a $200 bill on Jan 31 from another doctor who did the pathology. He’s in the umbrella group for the dermatologist I saw, but not in-network, and I have no out-of-network benefits. I’ve been overwhelmed with all these different bills and work and I don’t have a ton of money to pay as I’m low-income, so I just now asked my insurance to check on this two weeks ago. (They confirmed it’s out of network and said my next step is to appeal, but I think I would lose the appeal as that pathologist doctor is definitely out-of-network.) However, as of last week I realized they sent this $200 bill to collections. That’s despite my insurance checking with them very recently, and they never reached out over phone or anything. My main question is: is there a way for me to get this taken off collections so it doesn’t damage my credit score? If I call the doctor’s office is there a way I can convince them to do that? I’m definitely ready to write a review about my negative experience to push them — after we discuss it one-to-one on the phone and go over where everyone stands, of course, but I know reviews can push the office along if they know something makes them look bad. And I do want to warn other people with my insurance about this if they can’t help me get this settled. Also: can I argue that they sent this in under 180 days and that’s not fair? At this point, it’s only $200 and I’ll pay the bill if it means it will prevent damage to my credit score. I’ve never encountered this before and would really appreciate any advice! Also, if it helps, I’m in TX. Edit: I just called the collections agency and they said they haven’t yet reported this to any credit bureaus. I’m definitely researching this myself as much as possible but if anyone has any knowledge of this I would super appreciate it! For instance, if I pay now, will the collections agency for sure not report this debt? I would assume so but it seems complicated…
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