Medical Bill what would you do.

[hardflex]

I'll try to keep this brief.

My wife worked for a Mortgage Co. for 7 years before it was sold. She had a nice health plan which was to continue with the new owners. About this time her Dr. suggested she get a pulmonary test of her lungs. It was understood she would pay $500 and insurance the balance, which would come to $1200. Test took about 2 hours and did not find a problem.

New owner told her she would be on COBRA for a month until new plan kicked in. Well it turns out she could not be on COBRA (it was illegal for the Company to even try) for some reason. They continued to deduct for her Medical plan, but she had no coverage. Bill for $1200 bounces around. nobody pays it. My wife was aware of this and forwarded all documentation to the new owner to get the bill paid to clear her balance with her primary care Doctor.

Fast Forward a year and the Primary care Doctor will no longer see her until the past due balance is paid. She has been laid off and is now working with new owner as best she can to get it paid from the outside. Her Colleagues she worked with are all gone as well as of June, so her leverage is gone.

So what should she do?

1) Curse the new owner but pay the bill to keep her good standing.
2) Pay the bill but file a complaint with a Govt Agency.
3) Find a lawyer and sue the Bastards.

What do you think?

[stomachmonkey]

Well if the employer was deducting for the medical and they told her she would be on Cobra they are at minimum morally / ethically responsible for paying the bill.

I'm not an attorney so I don't know if they are legally responsible.

Don't waste time and money hiring a lawyer.

Not enough there to make it worth while.

Pay the bill for now as all it's doing is screwing with her FICO.

Take the employer to small claims court.

[legion]

How much are you willing to pay to prove you are right?

Your options are listed in increasing order of cost to you.

[Nostril Cheese]

Social media.. raise hell. Look up Zoe Keating cancer

[hardflex]

It would seem to me that since they deducted the premium from her pay (about $300) that would make them legally responsible.

If it were my company I would have paid the bill and thanked the stars I wasn't liable for something much more expensive by my error.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Take the employer to small claims court.

Pay the bill and do this ^^.

[Tobra]

OP, I am of the same mind as you. I would be tempted to point this out to the employer, though I don't know how effective that would be.

If she is in the midst of treatment for a medical problem, I am fairly certain you can't just fire the patient for not paying a bill. I know would not fly here, and am fairly certain it would not fly in Tejas either.

[stomachmonkey]

Did they return the $300 premium deduction?

[widgeon13]

Pay the bill and be done with it.

[hardflex]

no, they did not return the $300.

Small Claims is under $2000 is that right? I'm fairly certain she would win.

I think we will write a letter threatening small claims action, and hopes that spurs them to pay it.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by hardflex

no, they did not return the $300.

Small Claims is under $2000 is that right? I'm fairly certain she would win.

I think we will write a letter threatening small claims action, and hopes that spurs them to pay it.

The fact that they did not return the $300 leads me to believe the only way they will do anything is if compelled by a court order.

What a bunch of low life slime.

Under $10k in TX.

EDIT: They owe her $1,500. The $1,200 from the bill and the $300 illegally withheld from her paycheck. I'd start with Dept of Labor on that one.

[hardflex]

ha ha you got that right ! Thanks for the advice, let's see where it goes.

[LWJ]

I sort of do this. I am in the Health Insurance end. Most thoughts above are correct. I do not have a Texas Insurance license and don't know Texas law however.

In Oregon, there is State Continuation (or similar) if you are under COBRA size. There should have been an option for health coverage. Since they took premium, they certainly had the responsibility to continue coverage.

Here is what I would do:

1) Social Media campaign. I get big companies to do stuff this way. Home Depot / Kohler for example. Smaller? I don't know.
2) A letter CC'ed to a lawyer. You don't have to actually send it to the lawyer. State your case, give a deadline, and don't threaten. Just tell them to do what is right and give them a week. Send certified mail.
3) Contact the State labor board and learn your rights. My wife threatened someone with this once and they kissed her rear end!!! The State typically will be on your side in an irrationally good way. (Irrationally bad if you are the business)
4) Take them to court. You will win small claims. Also, identify as many expenses as possible that have been incurred from this. Example: your time responding to creditors. Bill that at a reasonable hourly rate. Your mileage. You get the idea.

I would not pay this. Just because you can doesn't mean that this jerk is right. Also, the fact that the other employees are gone simply means that the jerk can't have any witnesses corroborate his story.

Best of luck.

Larry

[MRM]

As a practical matter you can't effectively hire a lawyer to fight over $1,200. You could represent yourself and sue in small claims court, but I'm not sure you would prevail. I would need a lot more details and would have to research state law to know for sure. I can say that you do absolutely have the right to receive your $300 returned. Contacting the state labor department is an excellent suggestion. The state may lean on them to pay back both the $300 and the $1,200 you incurred in reliance on their promise.

Otherwise, my suggestion would be to call up the billing department and explain the situation. They might give her a break in exchange for prompt payment of the portion they agree to. If you could get them to split the bill equally with you and then you get the $300 back from the former employer, you're still out $300 but it's probably better than spending your time in small claims court.

I hate small claims court.

[gshase]

If you win in small claims court, you still have to make them pay even with a judgement. They will most likely LAWYER UP and they will win or appeal it to county court. If they appeal it then you will have to LAWYER UP and $2500 is what it will cost you. If you get a lawyer you need to make sure to go after legal fees. How do I know.......An $800 bill that we tried to collect on, we won in small claims court and now came the lawyers......Total we won was $3800 in county court and 2 years later. WE got the $800 + 300 for all of our fees for filing in both courts. I keep a copy of the check in my office as a reminder.

[mreid]

There are so many things wrong here. First of all, they can't put you on COBRA while you are employed. The fact that they continued to deduct premiums implies coverage. Did they provide any documentation explaining their intentions? The company is liable one way or another. Their best way out is to pay the $1,200 and move on. I would send them a letter detailing your expectations with a date for them to pay or you will take them to small claims court. In the meantime, pay the bill to set your life right.

[hardflex]

"they can't put you on COBRA while you are employed. " BINGO ! And that's why it's really stupid that THEY don't pay it. This is not a small mom pop outfit. It's a National Company with hundreds if not thousands of employees. I would think if the Labor Dept got wind of the fact they did this with a large number of employees they could be in for serious repercussions.

How big is it ? Big enough to pay a $125 Million Dollar Settlement.

from here 3,400 NC homeowners to receive Ocwen claim forms - JDNewstream - The Daily News, Jacksonville

The payments are part of a 2013 national settlement that requires Ocwen to pay $125 million to nearly 184,000 Ocwen borrowers across the country. Ocwen is also required under the settlement to meet stricter standards to prevent future mortgage servicing and foreclosure abuses.

Under the settlement, payments will go to consumers who lost their homes to foreclosure due to alleged misconduct by Ocwen that resulted in premature and unauthorized foreclosures, violations of homeowners’ rights and protections, and the use of false and deceptive documents and affidavits.



And the aggravation of it is they don't even respond to phone calls, emails, etc. Crazy !

[Por_sha911]

+1 with social media but don't make angry statements.

also, have you contacted your local new media? Many stations have an "on you side" reporter that would love to do a story about the big bad corporation stealing form the little guy.

Bad P.R. is a nightmare for businesses.

[mikester]

I'm no expert but have researched my own labor issues in the past to go to small claims court with.

Since those were wages earned and taxed you can go to the labor commission and they could be liable for more than just the dollar amount. In California it could be as much as 3x the original amount.


Additionally due to the nature of the withholdings they could have been pretax but if they were not used for healthcare then they are likely in violation of tax law AND they are causing you to be in violation as well possibly.

Finally, again the nature of the deduction was for healthcare which may constitute a contract to provide the coverage which may make them liable for the bill.

The Dr. is in an unfortunate situation since you thought you would have coverage. You did not, that is YOUR problem, not theirs. Your employer caused this situation and they should pay but as far as your Dr so concerned they provided you a service and you owe them the money. I would pursue the employer, document what should happened with the dr and unless you are financially unable to - pay the dr for providing the service. You may be able to negotiate a cash price or lower the bill with the promise to pay them the rest pending the outcome of the legal process you are starting against that former employer.

[LWJ]

Ok. Big company. This is total BS. Call the State labor dept. They like this sort of thing.