Expert: Regan Shinski - 1/19/2011

Question
My son was seen at UC Davis in Sacramento and he got a bill for $20,520. They refused to send an itemized statement, so we got a copy of his medical records and there is alot of disputes. Here goes: billed as impatient,level ER 4; however the medical records indicate level 3 and he was in the hallway in the ER. We have written to the hospital,DA's office and the collection agency. My son doesn't have insurance and a fulltime student(no money#, so I found public consumer copies for hospital charges and sent this along with the letter that we dispute charges and we are willing to pay in full the ligament amount#not the fraudulent amount#. My son's credit has already been hit with this collection bill. What will happen to him? He says he will not pay for a bill that if fraud. What do we do? Wait until is goes to court#we can't afford a lawyer, but we have the medical records that indicate nothing that would have cost that much)
Thank you for any help.
Jeana

Answer
Hi Jeana:

I'm sorry you and your son are in this situation.  Your question is kind of broad, so I'm going to limit my answer to some fairly broad areas.  Then, if you need more specific information, please contact me again.

If you ignore the bill, the process would likely unfold as follows:  It would eventually get turned over to a collection agency.  At some point, some entity - collection agency or the hospital itself - would file suit.  A court date would be set.  If you don't show up, a default judgement would be entered against your son.  The judgement would allow the creditor to collect on it including the possibility of wage garnishment, placing liens on property, attacking bank accounts, and even confiscating personal property if allowed under California law.  Credit would obviously be destroyed and this usually does not go away until paid.

Bankruptcy is an option.  You have to qualify and it really kills your credit for ten years.

Of course, you can also fight this the traditional way through the courts by presenting evidence and/settling the account.  This is strictly a matter of what evidence you have.

In this case, I would start with the website www.hospitalbillhelp.org.  California has some fairly consumer friendly laws relating to issues like this.  Read through that site and see what is available to your situation.  There are areas for pricing discounts, stopping collections, and public assistance that really fit your situation.  Specifically, this page within the site may be a good starting place:

http://www.hospitalbillhelp.org/have_bill/no_insurance?id=0003

Good luck.  Again, I hope this helps.

Regan

CLEAN UP CREDIT - DELETE MEDICAL COLLECTIONS -- www.ficofighter.com