Frank J Warner <warnerf@veriSPAMMERSDIEzon.net> wrote in
news:050420051523241407%warnerf@veriSPAMMERSDIEzon.net:

In article <faB4e.1073$lP1.766@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net>, Ike
<accordiondoc@mindspring.com> wrote:

"Frank J Warner" <warnerf@veriSPAMMERSDIEzon.net> wrote in message
news:050420050916411686%warnerf@veriSPAMMERSDIEzon.net...

In article <k8x4e.790$lP1.765@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net>, Ike
<accordiondoc@mindspring.com> wrote:

The Catholic hospital

Is this the entire reason you posted this to alt.atheism?

Trust me. Nobody is going to come and take you away for not paying a
$180 (or whatever) ER charge. They have bigger fish to fry.

-Frank

How about ruining my credit? They can do that. Plus read the other
beefs I have with the Catholic medical system.
And the reason I posted in aa is, that's where I post everything. The
question for legal-minded persons is, can I contest any charges if I
file in Small-claims court, or do I have to pay the bill first?

With all due respect, if you can't make arrangements with them to pay
off $180, your credit is the least of your problems.

MarkA is right. Call them. Be straight with them. Get the correct
amount and tell them you can pay $5 a week until the debt is
discharged. They'll want more. If you can pay more, do it, otherwise
let them know that this is the only way they're getting their money.

If you are dealing with a collection agency at this point, you have
rights. Look here to see what they can and can't legally do to recover
their money:

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/money/fair-debt/fair-dbt.htm

Good luck.

-Frank

The trick is to negotiate with the people that want the money before they
send the bill to a collecton agency. One can get a substantial discount
that way. Collection agencies pay a fraction of the bill and collect the
rest as profit. For example, you owe General Hospital $1000.00 and you
haven't paid a thing. They sell that bill to a collection agency for
$600.00. Collecton agency collects $1000. If you stop it going to
collections then you can negotiate the bill down to $750.00. I know, I
did
it. The trick is to pay something of the bill as soon as it comes in.
$50-$100 is good. It puts the account into another catagory and they then
are less reluctant to send it to collections.

If I have a bill goes to collections I make sure the collection agenecy
earns every penny that they get. I can afford to pay the $300, but I make
sure that the collecton agency sends me all of their supporting
documentation, etc. You would be surprised the number of losers these
collection agencies hire and nothing gets sent to you. It will be a month
or three before you even get a letter from them. And then it won't be
right. Get names too. There is almost no end of the fun you can have
with
people like that. (:>) What will drive them batty is if the hospital
didn't submit the claim to the insurance companies correctly and it got
rejected. Secondary filings are great for getting hosed. Then the
responsibity for the bill falls on the hospital as they didn't file the
claim correctly. Bottom line? You are not responsible for a failure on
the part of the hospital thus you don't owe them any money.

There is also a clause in many health care contracts that says unless the
patient agrees to additional charges, the doctor/hospital/etc. will accept
whatever payment the insurance company pays them and they are to consider
the bill paid in full. The less scupulous will bill the patient for the
difference anyway knowing that a small percentage will know about this
clause. Once the collection agenecy finds out that you know about that
part of the contract and you inform the original billing agenecy that what
they are doing is in violation to the terms of their contract with health
care provider XYS, you would be amazed how quick that bill vanishes. A
last resort would be to call the health care provider. If they get
enought
complaints the health care provider will not renew ther contract and that
means millions in lost revenue for the hospital. Yes the consequences are
rather formidable.

Good luck.

Bottom line? Get copies of everything from everyone. Make sure that the
money you are going pay to the collection agency is money you actually
owe.

Talk to your health care provider, the hospital, collection agency, etc.
If nothing else make them earn that money. Some hospitals wait 60 days
and
send stuff to collections. If you think you have a bill and haven't
received one in 30 days, call and ask for one. If nothing in 15 more
days,
then call and give them $30-50 over the phone with a credit card.

Sure all of the above requires some effort on your part, but the results
can be most rewarding.

rj