Insurance/Disability Collection

[carebear2325]

Not sure where to post this, it's sorta medical - sorta not. My aunt has a collection agency (Transworld Systems) sending letters trying to collect on behalf of Standard Insurance. This company paid my aunt disability benefits while she was off sick from her job at a hospital. After some time they made her apply for SSI, which she was granted without hesitation due to the severity of her problems.

 

She was constantly in touch with the people at Standard Insurance, and questioned repeatedly what she was to do since she was getting backpayed SSI benefits for 2 years. They said she would have to reimburse them for a portion of the benefits they paid her, but that she could either pay in full or they would just keep the couple hundred dollars a month that she's still entitled to even with SSI until that amount was paid off.

 

Well here we are a year later and they've sent her account to collections. She of course no longer has the money to pay them back - when you cut your income to 1/4th of what it was before your bad surgery it's tough not to get into whatever little savings you have and drain it on copays for doctors and prescriptions.

 

I want to write a DV for her to send to the collector, but I'm not sure exactly what all to put in there. I was thinking keeping it simple, just that she wants confirmation that it is her account and that they are authorized to collect. What I'm hoping is that they'll send something back that mentions anything that I could throw HIPAA back at them so she has a little leverage.

 

But I'm also unsure of what to tell her to do about this insurance company. Unfortunately she didn't get this in writing that they offered to just keep the money they're supposed to pay her, so I don't know how well that verbal agreement would hold up. They haven't been at all threatening about it, but she also doesn't want to have to deal with constant letters from the CA until they've kept enough of those monthly benefits to call it even. She hasn't pulled a credit report yet either, so I don't know if it's affecting her score or not.

 

Anybody have any tips or pointers? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Carrie

[Why Chat]

The first thing for her to do is to make SURE the CA is actually representng the Insurance Co.

 

I suggest she write a letter to the insurance company, reference her account # and outline the sequence of events.

 

Have her include this phrase:

 

"Pursuant to the rules and regulations of (name of her State), I am sending a copy of this letter, together with a filed complaint to the (State)Dept. of Insurance Regulation and to the (State) Attorney General's Office Dept. of Consumer Protection.

 

Make SURE she doesn't accuse the Insurance Co. of unfair practices, however she SHOULD include a phrase something like this: "Scumbag Collecton Agency represents that they are operating as agents for (Name of Insurance Co.) Please advise if you have given them authorization for this communication, copy of letter from Scumbag enclosed.

[carebear2325]

Thanks so much WhyChat - I'm going to put a letter together for her to send out.