Medical collector

Hello all,

I have a question, I just reviewed my Equifax CR and on there is a Collection agency called Credit Collections CO out of morgantown, WV.

To make the long story short, This is a medical account I had back in 2003 . I thought my insurance company was going to handle this but they said because of the procedure I had they where not going to pay. To be personnel, I had a procedure done and had to be hospitalized. So the insurance company paid for my day stay in the hospital but not for my follow-up appointment, which the total cost for me was $750.

I Had to go to the place and get a doctor excuse. And to my surprise do you know what they put on my doctor excuse the procedure that I had done. Can they disclose information like that on my Doc note. Is that a voliation of the HIPPA Act. I asked them to please take it off and give me something that say I was just here and by putting that on there was embrassing for me and they told me no that is my excuse. So I took the excuse and had to show that (the procedure) to my employers. So can I use this as a leverage to get this information off my credit report. Or can I sue the medical etabishment for wrongful discloser.

[Judge Roy Bean]

Originally Posted by miawpk

Hello all,

I have a question, I just reviewed my Equifax CR and on there is a Collection agency called Credit Collections CO out of morgantown, WV.

To make the long story short, This is a medical account I had back in 2003 . I thought my insurance company was going to handle this but they said because of the procedure I had they where not going to pay. To be personnel, I had a procedure done and had to be hospitalized. So the insurance company paid for my day stay in the hospital but not for my follow-up appointment, which the total cost for me was $750.

I Had to go to the place and get a doctor excuse. And to my surprise do you know what they put on my doctor excuse the procedure that I had done. Can they disclose information like that on my Doc note. Is that a voliation of the HIPPA Act. I asked them to please take it off and give me something that say I was just here and by putting that on there was embrassing for me and they told me no that is my excuse. So I took the excuse and had to show that (the procedure) to my employers. So can I use this as a leverage to get this information off my credit report. Or can I sue the medical etabishment for wrongful discloser.

IMHO you have two competely separate issues that you can't join.

It is reasonable to assume a document requested by you to excuse you from work is going to include the nature of the illness, treatment or procedure, and it was given to you, the patient. Therefore you probably don't have a cause under HIPAA. (It's one P and two A's.)

Trying to get them to remove the remaining $750 debt from your credit report is another matter.

This is one of the most common issues surrounding medical insurance - failure to pay the entire bill and then the patient either isn't billed correctly, or is billed for things that they can't recognize had anything to do with their treatment. In far too many cases, the insurance company simply didn't pay what it was supposed to cover and they do a good job of ignoring the patient.

If you know what the charges were for (and it appears from your post that you do), you'll have a difficult time denying you owe them the $750.

I promise they won't just take it off your credit report to be nice guys. For that amount of money, you're better off negotiating a reasonable payment schedule or analyzing your insurance coverage and going back to them if you think it should have been covered.

[RickA]

Judge Roy Bean and miawpk, wouldn't the insurance policy clearly state what was to be covered and not covered? Was the procedure used clearly outlined as to whether it was covered or not? was contact made with the insurance provider prior to the operation?

I realize these questions are after the fact, but it is still not neccessarily a lot cause to search.

[Judge Roy Bean]

Originally Posted by RickA

Judge Roy Bean and miawpk, wouldn't the insurance policy clearly state what was to be covered and not covered? Was the procedure used clearly outlined as to whether it was covered or not? was contact made with the insurance provider prior to the operation?

Only if it were that simple. There is a phrase in the policies akin to "reasonable and customary" charges, which simply opens the door to the insurance company arguing what the amount should be.

There are also unbelievably specious situations where a licensed physician is esssentially cross-examined pre-treatment about whether or not the patient really needs what the doctor says is required. And some of these "reviews" are handled by people without medical credentials. And later, post-treatment, the non-physician insurance hounds will resort to delay tactics in order to not pay claims.

Originally Posted by RickA

I realize these questions are after the fact, but it is still not neccessarily a lot cause to search.

Judge Roy Bean,

In all due respect, do you know what the HIPAA Act is?

Well one, I live in Florida and by state regulation a CA can not report medical infornation to CRA. (It is forbidden)

Two, the HIPAA act, say that no medical provider can give out medical information (ie name, address, or SSN)to a third party without my authorization. Such as Collection Agency.


So, the infornation being displayed on my CR is a violation of itself. which can be removed.

But thank you anyway for your help.

This is a prime example that you must read for yourself in order to understand.

[Judge Roy Bean]

Originally Posted by miawpk

Judge Roy Bean,

In all due respect, do you know what the HIPAA Act is?

Indeed, I do, including the privacy provisions within it.

Originally Posted by miawpk

Well one, I live in Florida and by state regulation a CA can not report medical infornation to CRA. (It is forbidden)

Two, the HIPAA act, say that no medical provider can give out medical information (ie name, address, or SSN)to a third party without my authorization. Such as Collection Agency.

Name, address and SSN are not "medical information."

Originally Posted by miawpk

So, the infornation being displayed on my CR is a violation of itself. which can be removed.

But thank you anyway for your help.

This is a prime example that you must read for yourself in order to understand.

You must also seek out expertise.