So sorry this happened to you. I just went through a very similar experience. I had a procedure done that was to be covered by my insurance. We received three statements stating, "Waiting for insurance payment. Patient responsibility $0.00" from an anesthesia office. After the third statement, the letter from a collection agency! In calling the anesthesiologist's office, I was told they no longer have this file and had to talk to the attorney's office. To make a long story short, I paid the collections office (over my husband's dead body...he's now pushed off into the corner) and filed paperwork with our insurance company for review. The insurance co. approved payment and called the collection's office 3-way with me included and made them state that they will refund my entire payment while being recorded. These are called surprise medical bills, and are now illegal in Florida. It is not your fault, and yes, they DO make you feel like a low-life. I have an 850 credit score, and paid immediately because of the nasty harassment. It is a scam, but it is real! The anesthesiologist in my case did not belong to my insurance group and could charge twice the amount that the insurance would have paid. Call your insurance and tell them you have a Surprise Bill. They should be able to review it and assist you. Good luck!

Thanks voila! You've been really helpful. I'm calling my insurance company tomorrow and will definitely use the phrase "Surprise Bill!"

A few years ago my right kidney was removed because of cancer. We and our insurance paid all the bills. Imagine my surprise when a year later I got a bill from the surgeon for removing my LEFT kidney! Honest mistake, I'm sure. Oh, Sure.

The pathology group in my insurance was unavailable the day I arrived in hospital by ambulance, so hospital sent my labs to another lab. Because first set of labs went to an uncovered lab, subsequent labs did, too. Not one dime was covered by insurance - out of network. We fought like crazy to have that multi-thousand dollar bill removed and finally won! Hospital claimed they had to have my labs read immediately to save my life, we claimed they should have a pathologist from all insurance groups they accept on duty at all times.

When you've been put through the mill by illness, you're vulnerable and scared. Get your hackles up, indygo, and fight like hell. Good luck. Don't let 'em get you.

Oh man, I am soooo grateful for my insurance-it's all covered under one network, no seperate billings. I guess I'm going to stay with them!

That is ridiculous that the Dr. office sends the bills off to collection after such a short time, and the collection agencies buy those debts for pennies on the dollar-yet charge you the full amount PLUS their 'fees'. And they make you feel as if you're a real deadbeat.

I had a call one day from a very aggressive collection agent who actually did call me a deadbeat and refused to send me something in writing when I asked. Finally they did send me something and it turned out that I had paid the bill 3 years earlier to the original creditor (telephone company) when I cancelled my service, but they'd billed incorrectly. The phone co verbally noted, and fully accepted my correct payment and I never heard another word until that wretched collections agent called me. Once they sent me their statement, I wrote on it that the original debt had been paid in full and this was not a legitimate debt. A few months later I got a letter from them that they'd closed the account-no apologies or explanation. I've kept their letter (and my proof of paying the original phone co) just in case this 'zombie debt' shows up again. And I checked my credit report-not a ding.

Funny I just got one of those calls too. For an appointment my teen son had 2 years ago. The collection agency is saying that the insurance company over-reimbursed us and we now owe them back! Why didn't our insurance company call us with this issue? DH is on a business trip and I am waiting till he gets back to review with him since our insurance is through his work ... just feels like a slimy and scam-like way to do business.

IMHO the over riding issue is how long it takes for medical establishments to send a bill. Why do we get bills months later?!! The gas bill comes monthly, why doesn't a hospital/clinic clear their books every month and keep up!? By the time the bill comes often it is a surprise and only after you open it up and read the little numbers, wrack your brain do you remember," OH Ya DH did go in FOREVER ago!!"

If we paid our medical bills ourselves we would get them fairly quickly - but most medical bills go through insurance companies and we all know how 'fast' they work. Some companies reject claims (especially expensive ones) the first time they're submitted - the delay allows them to postpone payment and of course they're love it if the bill were never re-submitted. Sometimes the billing clerks make a coding error when processing the forms which then requires a correction and then submitting it a second time.

Now that I'm on Medicare with a good Supplement I'm amazed at how few bills I get. I always check first with both Medicare and the Provider to verify that my appointment or procedure will be covered hoping to eliminate any surprises.

But the whole system has evolved into such a complicated rat's maze - it can nearly impossible to stay on top of it.

"...a complicated rat's maze..."

Perfect description! I always say that insurance makes its money from people who don't stay on top of it. I've had many, many bills that were incorrect and changed only because I questioned it. Imagine all those who pay just because the bill arrived?!

I also think there should be a limit on how much time can pass between the date of service and billing. It is rediculous to get a bill months after the service. I always think, "didn't I pay this already?" Especially when a procedure can get bills from three parties as the OP described.

I've not had it with medical bills, but there was a JC Penney bill I never rec'd as, for some reason, it was marked undeliverable, and then Penney never sent out another bill. I next heard about it months later from a collections agency. So once I found out, I had them remove any extra fees and charges, paid the bill and it all went away. So just because it's in collections, doesn't mean it still can't be managed.

Better yet, binge all of John Oliver!!

Yes,John Oliver forgave 15mn of debts.

Good for you for not giving the collection agency any info and for following up. The hospitals and doctors offices just sell their receivables to collection agencies after they reach a certain age. The only effort anyone makes is to recode all of the procedures to a higher dollar value then, when reimbursement is denied by your insurance company, you owe more. I would look very carefully at your bills and make sure the bills have not been upcoded and perhaps get with someone who understands the coding. I had a collection agency come after me for bills that were paid in full by check at the time the services were rendered. The collection agency had recoded the doctor's services so that on each bill I owed an additional $70-$140. When I complained to the state attorney general's office the collection agency suddenly backed down and said that because I had paid in cash at the time the services were rendered, I was getting a "prompt pay discount" and they dropped it. I tried to get the Attorney General to go after them but she would not do it. I guess the next group to involve is the police-maybe their fraud squad? The codes recently changed so it is entirely possible that this is what you're up against.

We manage my Dad's bills for him. He's on a fixed income and depends on his Social Security. Since February he's had a fall requiring an ER visit & X-rays, been hospitalized for pancreatitis, needed 2 colonoscopies, gall bladder surgery and a GI bleed requiring transfusions. You can't imagine the web of bills we are trying to untangle from the various providers.

He is 85. His hearing is bad and his manual dexterity is diminished. Even if he were better able to do his bills it would be impossible for him to understand automated prompts and move his fingers to type in info on a phone.

He has us, but I don't know how the heck elderly people in his state manage on their own. He gets so upset whenever those letters come in saying bills are overdue and will be turned over for collection. We try to explain that it's a snag in the system and not to worry, but I think he sometimes thinks we're dropping the ball.

There must be a better way.

Wow, thank you for all these comments and I'm so sorry everyone has to go through this! I'm obviously in good company, and I too was feeling sympathy for the very elderly with their complicated bills. It's crazy.

I posted the original comment and then felt sort of silly for the rant and didn't check back for a few days, so I'm grateful for these stories. I love the term 'zombie bills' and will definitely check out John Oliver. You know, right before my great aunt (born in 1900) died, she had to deal with a medical bill and encountered her first 'if this, press that' phone tree where she wasn't allowed to speak to a real live human. She was a former college professor and her husband had been a doctor. One of the last things she said to me was that 'we are living in a terrible time.' I can still her saying that. I can't imagine how she would have reacted to going in for a doctor visit, as I did yesterday, with the doctor spending the entire time looking at a computer screen.

And so it goes!

To me, your original post was not a rant. I think they up coded you to try to bilk you for some more money... If it doesn't seem honest, fight them on it.

It reminds me of one of the insurance companies I dealt with. They routinely denied all claims on the first submission hoping that you would just accept it.

It's not just medical bills, insurance, credit card companies and collection agencies -- those are the symptoms. The disease is greed. Think how much better off the United States would be if real people (from this country) were employed to prepare your bill, answer the phone, resolve your problem? Instead, companies these days don't give a rat's behind about providing good customer service.

Especially in the medical industry -- they don't have to. We're all trapped in a system that was sponsored by corporations, designed by think tanks and sold to your congressmen by lobbyists, wherein choice of provider has been stripped from us. Push One if you'd like to get screwed. Push Two if you'd like to get screwed further. Push Three if you'd like to complain about it ... but really, don't bother because the only threat you've got left is going out of network and in that case ... Push Four for a recommendation to a bankruptcy attorney.

Sorry, that wasn't nice. Can you tell I'm a little sensitive about this?

I've picked on the medical industry but it could be anything -- how about shoes? Remember when you went to the local shoe store? The guy who owned the place was likely the same person who chose the inventory, measured your feet, and rang up the sale on the cash register. He had a stake in providing you with a quality product and good service at an acceptable price. The shoes he (or she) sold were likely to have been made by someone in a factory right here in this country too -- not by a child refugee in a Turkish sweatshop.

Somehow we decided both that corporations can be people and that they are not required to have a social conscience -- at all. As long as we keep the shareholders happy the rest of us can Push Five to listen to bad on hold music. They can't even be bothered to get that right these days.

I have one issue with the whole corporations are the great evil theory. It's that corporations are owned by people. And the people are greedy. I don't know why we can't just recognize this and see the corporation as a vehicle for multi generational greed. Because they don't die, they really do end up owning everything and I think it's a huge problem.