medical collection from auto accident, driver never filed claim with insurance company

[shanes76]

I was in an auto accident back in 2005 and I was a passenger in the vehicle. I never knew the insurance companys name and have just recently found out how to get it. I just had a few collections put on my CR, and one is for 23,000 SO I called hospital and they said they didnt have the info of insurance company and since I was the patient that Im responsible for the bill. After getting the insurance companies name, I call them and ask why they didnt pay the bill, the did some checking and turns out the driver never filed a claim on the wreck which totaled her car and still owed 5000.00 on. Then they tell me that they cant help me because it has been over 2 years. So now Im stuck with a 23000.00 bill that I cant pay. Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do to get rid of it, get it off the reports or maybe forgiveness

[Sandscrit]

What is the statute of limitations on medical bills in your state?

[Why Chat]

I was in an auto accident back in 2005 and I was a passenger in the vehicle. I never knew the insurance companys name and have just recently found out how to get it. I just had a few collections put on my CR, and one is for 23,000 SO I called hospital and they said they didnt have the info of insurance company and since I was the patient that Im responsible for the bill. After getting the insurance companies name, I call them and ask why they didnt pay the bill, the did some checking and turns out the driver never filed a claim on the wreck which totaled her car and still owed 5000.00 on. Then they tell me that they cant help me because it has been over 2 years. So now Im stuck with a 23000.00 bill that I cant pay. Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do to get rid of it, get it off the reports or maybe forgiveness

You are waaaay past the time for any legal collection action on this debt. You are very close to the 7 year limit on reporting this on your credit reports.

 

Follow these steps:

http://whychat.5u.com/GUIDEBOOK.html

 

You will be using the HIPAA letter program.

 

In all probability your initial dispute letter to each CRA will get the account deleted.

[Clydesmom]

I was in an auto accident back in 2005 and I was a passenger in the vehicle. I never knew the insurance companys name and have just recently found out how to get it. I just had a few collections put on my CR, and one is for 23,000 SO I called hospital and they said they didnt have the info of insurance company and since I was the patient that Im responsible for the bill. After getting the insurance companies name, I call them and ask why they didnt pay the bill, the did some checking and turns out the driver never filed a claim on the wreck which totaled her car and still owed 5000.00 on. Then they tell me that they cant help me because it has been over 2 years. So now Im stuck with a 23000.00 bill that I cant pay. Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do to get rid of it, get it off the reports or maybe forgiveness

 

I wanted to add some educational information for others who may have a similar issue or if you have another accident.

 

First: if you didn't know the other driver's insurance company how would the hospital? They are not required to track down that information to cover your bills. They are correct that you incurred the expense and therefore did owe the money.

 

Second: the other driver's insurance is NOT your insurance and owes you nothing until a court of law says they do. Even if the other driver never opens a claim on the accident if you hire a personal injury attorney to file suit then the insurance company will open a claim. The insurance company typically does not pay medical bills as they occur. What happens is you reach MMI: maximum medical improvement then you present your claim to the other driver's company. They then decide how much fault their client has and pay their percentage. If you don't like their offer then you have to file suit. NOTHING obligates them to just pay the bills because someone says their client caused an accident.

 

Third: even if it is an auto accident you can always file with your own health insurance then when the claim settles reimburse the health insurance company under the right of subrogation. That means if you recover medical expenses you do have to pay any third party payers that covered care for that accident.

 

If you turned this over to your insurance I am surprised they didn't go after the other driver's policy anyway. Unless you didn't have full coverage. The other insurance company is correct: the SOL for pursuing claims from an accident is 2 years from the date of that event so it is too late now to open a claims. However as two others said given that the accident is 8 years old at this point it is WELL beyond the time frame for the hospital collections to still be reportable on your CR. It should be removed.

[shanes76]

I'm sorry for the mistype but the accident was in 2008. And I know it's the hospitals responsibility to get the info,

[Clydesmom]

I'm sorry for the mistype but the accident was in 2008. And I know it's the hospitals responsibility to get the info,

 

No it isn't the hospital's responsibility to get auto insurance information from the other driver you are confusing this with health insurance. The hospital is not a party to the accident and has no legal duty to collect from the other driver or wait for the case to conclude. Besides, even if the hospital DID have the other driver's insurance they still had no legal obligation to pay your bills until they determined they had to. You were still responsible for the care you received.

 

If a patient has HEALTH insurance the hospital CAN collect that information and agree to bill the carrier. However, even insured patients who are covered run into problems when they come into a hospital unconscious and are unable to tell the hospital they have insurance then have to straighten it out.

 

If the accident was in 2008 you have a much bigger problem. While it is probably beyond the time frame in which they can sue you, it can remain on your credit report for two more years legally. It is too late to pursue the other driver for the claim now it is beyond the SOL to file a personal injury suit for your medical expenses.

 

Did you file a claim with your insurance at the time of the accident and did you have uninsured or under insured motorists coverage? If so, call your claims rep at your insurance company and see about re-opening your claim to get the bill covered. Did you have health insurance information you gave to the hospital and they didn't bill it? Something else is to call the hospital and see if you qualify for charity care. They may or may not let you apply for it now.

[Why Chat]

" Clydesmom"'s information is correct, however that does not change what your current course of action should be.

2008 is still way past the legal SOL for being sued and you can get the account off your reports by following the instructions.

 

BTW, it is more than likely that the bill WAS paid by SOMEONE-- it might have been the OTHER party's insurance if this was a 2 vehicle accident.

[shanes76]

One vehicle accident and I was a passenger

[Clydesmom]

One vehicle accident and I was a passenger

 

That changes things somewhat. Given that you said the driver never reported the accident then the insurance company would not automatically pay any medical expenses for a passenger Even if you told the ER clerk that the driver had Bo Peep insurance since you were not the one with the policy the insurance company would have denied the claim because of no reported accident by their insured. With that fact pattern you would have had to sue the driver in order to force them to report it to their insurance company or to collect directly from her if she didn't.

 

The time to sue for this accident has expired. Now you could file yourself but most small claims limits are way lower than this bill so it would have to be in district court which requires a lawyer and no attorney is going to take the case knowing the SOL has expired. You are left with WhyChat's removal method for medical debt, negotiating a payment plan, or filing bankruptcy.

 

 

 

" Clydesmom"'s information is correct, however that does not change what your current course of action should be.

2008 is still way past the legal SOL for being sued and you can get the account off your reports by following the instructions.

 

BTW, it is more than likely that the bill WAS paid by SOMEONE-- it might have been the OTHER party's insurance if this was a 2 vehicle accident.

 

Actually with a bill that high it typically means NO ONE did pay it. If the OP had no medical insurance and a claim was never opened by the driver then the bill went unpaid. The hospital expected the OP who received the care to file a claim for the medical bills and when that never happened AND they were never paid it went to collections.

 

No health insurance and uninsured drivers is why many hospitals stopped providing trauma care because of the tremendous expense that goes unpaid. Trauma care for an accident can easily run into six figures (the OPs was five for probably minor injuries) and becomes a major burden to stay in business when patients expect the care but don't think they should have to pay for it.

 

Sadly in this case the OP had options to get this bill covered but like many people did not know how to exercise them and assumed the driver's insurance would automatically pay.

[shanes76]

I got a copy of the bill from the hospital, they gave me a 75% charity discount, and a discount for no insurance, here is the thing though, with those 2 discounts together, it adds up to more than my bill was , so then they add the charity amount back in after taking it off and say I owe that much

[Why Chat]

The health care system is a mess. Hopefully things will now be improving-- Just follow the instructions I gave you in my initial post and you will be able to get this off your reports.

[shanes76]

Ok, thank you in advance whychat

[shanes76]

it is being reported by a CA, does that make any difference as to what letter to send?

[Why Chat]

it is being reported by a CA, does that make any difference as to what letter to send?

OF COURSE it is being reported by a CA-- Health Care providers are NOT allowed to report directly themselves.

 

PLEASE read all the instructions, they are carefully designed and should work for you

 

http://www.whychat.5u.com/GUIDEBOOK.html

 

http://www.whychat.5u.com/GUIDE%20HIPAA%20PROGRAM.html

[shanes76]

Will do sir, thank you