Goddamn mayo clinic turned us over for collection==This economy sucks

[greenbriar]

as you know, my spouse had an extensive stay at mayo and the end results were not much to speak of. We have decent insurance but mayo was out of network. We did not choose to go, he was sent.

we were left wtih an 8 thousand dollar debt. We have it down to 6,300 and today I got a damn letter from a collection agency.


god, what they think we just have 6 thousand we can just fork over???

gas is high
groceries are high

poor get poorer and rich get richer

fuck you pResident dimwit

[bluestateguy]

1. Change your phone numbers

That'll keep them off your back for a little while.

Collection agencies are slimy people who stick their noses in places where they should not be.

[WCGreen]

2. Call the Clinic and make arangements

That is what I did and they let me stretch it out....

We had over 10k of bills from a month long stay in intensive care, then PT and all the drugs,,,,,,

I spent more on health care than on food and lodging combined....

And I am on disablity

[greenbriar]

4. we thought we had

we have been sooooo careful with our credit in the last 7 years to repair the issues we had in our youth.

Just when it seems things are going good! whamm





I even had a yard sale to send them money.

remember I was streaming Rhandi telling her about my walking out of church.

[WCGreen]

8. Call them back and get it back from the Collectors.....

It's important that you do.....

Call your doctor, get him involved.....

[Trillo]

3. I've never understood why corporations get paid if they don't help.

At least I didn't understand it when I was younger.

[lala_rawraw]

5. And I am just fighting to get in...

And I have insurance that I pay for... only to get Jeb controlled health care ... NOT a single god damn immunologist in a 50 mile radius and they won't let me go out of network!!!!

[greenbriar]

7. don't expect miracles

we were told that hubby needed trach reconstruction surgery and only two places would do it right. Mayo and John Hopkins...we chose mayo. We have (we thought) excellent insurance. We didn't know about out of network, as we had referrals through all the testing and crap up to the visit.

Ended up not having surgery as they wanted to see if some things work first...its still undecided if that are working.

now this!!! sheesh

[Emerson]

6. Go here:

You can get a lot of helpful information at this forum: http://www.creditboards.com/forums/

[tsuki]

9. Call the Mayo and try to make arrangements for payments.

If they try to take you to court, you tried.

Be sure to tell the primary physician that the Mayo did nothing but add to your stress by adding an $8000.00 nightmare.

Get a detailed list of itemized charges from the Mayo. Then ask your insurance company for a list of what they pay. And challenge them. I have heard of people doing this.

Finally, give the list to your primary and ask why he did not do the tests. It may not help you, but it will alert your primary. Maybe, he will think twice about referring someone else.

[greenbriar]

14. we had every test we thought we needed done

local and took all exrays mri's trach scope films and everything with us.

they wanted their own

[tsuki]

21. That is what I object to. They want their own. Track how much

your tests cost the insurance company, and then how much the Mayo charged you for the same tests. You will find a significant difference. Non-insured often pay three times what the insured do for the same tests.

[Wetzelbill]

10. I hear that, I'm sure you can make arrangements though

[roguevalley]

11. when they call, tell them they 'are fired' and write them a letter

firing them. They can't call you if you do this and they will have to stop harassing you and give you time to decide what to do. Much hugs, honey. Fire the bastards.

[bobbymo]

12. Turn the tables!

There are very strict laws pertaining to how collection agencies can communicate to delinquent customers... And most of them go over the line. Let them call... just deal with it. But make sure you document what they say to you. Record your conversations. Eventually one of them will threaten you with something that's not legal. These bastards usually resort to threats to get their way.

Study up and wait for them to trip up.

This is from Canada but very much like the US
http://www3.gov.ab.ca/gs/pdf/billcoll.pdf

Here's more:
http://credit.about.com/cs/consumeraction/a/062201.htm

[punchy]

13. Send a letter telling them to cease and desist RIGHTAWAY!

Tell them you will not talk to them on the phone and to leave you alone.

[newyawker99]

19. Hi punchy!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[bigtree]

22. welcome punchy

this is good advice. If they call after you tell them to stop you can go down to the police station and file an annoying phone call complaint with the commissioner. Have dates and times, as well as other documented evidence to include in your report. It worked for me. Put the agency on their heels when I called them and told them of the charges I had filed. Also, be certain to get the name of whomever is calling to charge them specifically in the complaint. To be certain that you have the right name, call the agency back and ask for the creep.

[wellstone dem]

15. Send them a letter

tell them not to contact you again. Then, if the collection agency does contact you after the letter, you may have a claim against then or be able to defend a law suit because of that abuse.

Here is a fact sheet done by Legal Aid in Minnesota about collection, about halfway from the bottom its start talking about collection agencies, has a list of illegal practices, and places to report.

http://www.lawhelp.org/MN/showdocument.cfm/County/%20/City/%20/demoMode/=%201/Language/1/State/MN/TextOnly/N/ZipCode/%20/LoggedIn/0/rpc/1020100/doctype/dynamicdoc/ichannelprofileid/447/idynamicdocid/2429/iorganizationid/2319/itopicID/261/iProblemCodeID/1020100/iChannelID/3/isubtopicid/1/iproblemcodeid/1020100


(Wow that's a long link. If you have trouble, go to www.lawhelpmn.com and you can figure out the links to get to fact sheets on consumer issues.)

[Deja Q]

16. Fuck a system MADE to drain money from YOU.

pretzeldent shrimpyballs merely supports it.

[OneBlueSky]

17. start sending them a small payment each month . . .

fifty bucks, twenty, ten . . . whatever you can afford . . . and do it consistently, same time each month . . . this will establish a record of a "good faith effort" to pay your bill and should prevent them from taking you to court . . . good luck . . .

[Dee625]

18. Do check the laws in your state

My healthcare coverage is in West Virginia.

When I called them upset that I was getting a bill from a provider that I thought was approved and covered by them, they told me to call the provider and remind them that WV law does not allow patient's to be charged back the difference between the fee they contracted with the insurance for and whatever they want to charge.

If some of these charges were not covered by your insurance and you are "paying cash", find out the Medicare rate for each procedure. See if the hospital will accept that amount as paid in full. Charging you different is essentially discriminating though they do it all the time. I've heard quite a few people be successful with that.

Then verify the payment plan with them - in writing.
Also, I'd continue to make whatever payments to the hospital that you agreed to, not to the collection agency. That's not who you agreed to pay. I could be wrong about that, but I'm telling you that's what I'd do as a matter of principle. You would be keeping your end of the agreement. I had a bill sent to collection over an insurance screw up. I finally got my insurance to pay the provider even though the collection agency insisted I HAD to pay them. Never heard from them again.

[davsand]

20. Minn Hospital Association reached agreement with the AG about collections.

Try not to panic, just yet. You may have more protection from the collections people than you realize--OK?

Go here:

http://www.mnhospitals.org/index/finance1

"Agreement on billing practices reached with attorney general

A new framework for standardized hospital practices around collections and how we bill the uninsured was announced May 5 by Attorney General Mike Hatch and the Minnesota hospital community. See the June 2 press release: and the most recent list of participating hospitals: ."

Both St Marys and Methodist (the two main hospitals for Mayo) signed off on this agreement, so you should be protected by it. It is pretty specific about what collections agencies can and cannot do. IF they have violated it, I'd expect the Minn AG would be very interested to hear ALL about it.

The press release from his office announcing the agreement goes into some detail about practices, and you might want to take a look at it before you go much further:

"Improving Debt Collection Practices

The Agreement also establishes standards that hospitals and clinics will follow when attempting to collect medical debt from patients.



Prior to filing any lawsuit against a patient or referring any patient’s account to a debt collection agency or attorney, the hospitals and clinics will undertake due diligence to ensure that: (a) the patient owes the debt, (b) all insurance companies that may be responsible to pay the claim have been billed, (c) the patient has been offered a payment plan if the patient cannot afford to pay the entire bill at once, and (d) the patient has been offered any free or discounted care for which the patient may be eligible under the hospital’s charity care policy.

Prior to garnishing any patient’s wages or bank account, the hospitals and clinics will undertake the same due diligence to ensure that impoverished patients are not improperly garnished. To ensure adequate judicial supervision over such actions, the hospitals and clinics will not pursue any garnishment without first obtaining a judgment against the patient.

Hospitals and clinics will adopt a number of other specific debt collection reforms. For instance: (a) they will develop a zero tolerance policy for abusive and harassing debt collection conduct; (b) they will instruct their attorneys not to petition to have a debtor arrested as a result of a debt collection action; (c) they will periodically review their contracts with outside debt collection agencies and attorneys to ensure they are acting in accordance with the law and the hospital’s mission; (d) they will ensure that all lawsuits are promptly filed in court, that service of the lawsuit upon the patient is documented, and that no default judgment is obtained against the patient until the patient has been given a fair opportunity to respond.

Hospitals and clinics will establish a streamlined process for patients to question or dispute bills, including a toll-free number they may call and an address to which they may write. Hospitals and clinics will promptly respond to patient inquiries. Collection notices will list the number for the Attorney General’s Office for patients who need assistance."

http://www.ag.state.mn.us/consumer/PR/PR_050602HospitalFairPricing2.htm

Mike Hatch (the Minn AG) is one of the good guys who is working hard to reform the way our hospitals do business. He's been in front of the Ways and Means Committee on this issue as well as the Senate, so I'm confident he knows his stuff. If you get a chance to read his testimony you should--it will make you cheer out loud.

This Minn agreement is a real ray of hope because the Minn Hospital Association actually worked to make it happen rather than against it. There have been a couple of other states since then that have reached agreements too (however, they are not as strong in protecting consumers.)

Best of luck to you. I'm sorry you are dealing with it.


Laura

[greenbriar]

23. Don't get me wrong,

We have the money to pay monthly and we have been paying. I would love to just whip out a 6 grand check but...

We have insurance and they paid quite a bit. Just not all because it was out of network.

My husband and I both have GOOD jobs

I am just pissed they got impatient and turned us over. We have paid something monthly since we first were billed. Sometimes it was only 100.00 but many times it was 300.00. Last month we paid 100.00 and they turnd us over.



It wasn't our choice to go there, but when hubby almost died and we started all the testing to find out what was wrong, the local doctors said Throat Reconstruction...major surgery and you want people who have actually done that. Not some er repair doctor!