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Collections Law/Medical Billing - Debt collectors

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Expert: Creditwrench - 7/27/2009


Question
My husband and I have a high-deductible, PPO insurance policy.  7 months ago, he had a serious fall requiring 3 different surgeries in addition to emergency transfer to another hospital.  After all bills have been processed with insurance company, the providers are now trying to get payment for the balances the insurance company did not pay. We exceeded all deductibles, including out-of-pocket, out-of-network, but the providers are insisting WE are responsible for what the insurance company did not pay.  Since these providers have already received payment from the insurance company, why are we obligated to pick-up the difference??
Are we, in fact obligated?
What happens if we don't pay?
The collections agencies are calling, but leaving no messages on answering machine.
Thanks.

Answer

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Yes, you are obligated to pay anything the insurance companies did not pay. What happens if you don't pay? They sue you for it, get a court order to freeze your bank accounts and take any money they can find there, get a garnishment order and take up to 25% of any paychecks until the debt is paid and there is even much more they can do to collect. Do you know why they aren't leaving any messages on your answering machine? It is because they don't want you to sue them for violating the law. So many people have sued them for that they have become very frightened of leaving any messages on any answering machines. That is the way people get rid of their debt collectors. Catch them violating the law and take them to federal court and most who do that do so without hiring any attorneys to do it for them. That's what you should learn how to do as well. All it takes is the will to learn how to do it and the determination to carry it through. It really isn't all that hard.

Creditwrench

Expertise

Debt Collections law, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), federal law, how to properly answer court summons for collection cases, how to prepare federal cases against debt collectors, how to deal with debt collection phone calls.

Experience

I've been an active consumer advocate for more than 40 years and have helped hundreds of people win cases against debt collectors as well as helping them defeat demands for summary judgment lodged against them by banks, debt collectors and defeat mortgage foreclosures and keep their homes.

Education/Credentials
Paralegal courses for the most part.
I have been teaching people how to deal with judgments, mortgage foreclosures and other such problems both on and off the internet for many, many years. I am a Richard Cornforth information provider ever since 2000 and worked with many other organizations and causes since 1980. I was Oklahoma State Chairman for the nationwide drive to defeat the Constitutional Convention which was proposed by various factions within our federal government such as the Council of State Governments and the National Organization of State Governors who were working hard to organize a Constitutional Convention to be held in 1995 for the purpose of rewriting our American Constitution to be more acceptable to the United Nations. I worked with Senator Charles Duke of Colorado and Senator Don Rogers of California and many others across the nation to keep them from getting the number of delegate states required to lawfully hold a Con-Con and we were successful. I have worked with many other legislative issues in Oklahoma and have always been very successful.

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