Personal Injury Law

Stale medical bills,

By Steve Lombardi

QUESTION: I was asked a question about stale medical bills and it seems to be a reoccuring problem. The question has to do with stale medical bills and a delayed billing by the medical service provider. The billing was not originally made and when it was, six years later, it was too late to file with the responsible parent's health insurance carrier. What do you do when a medical service provider bills you six years after providing medical care? Do you still owe for the service provided? What if you can't now pay them?

Previously I've had to address this same problem. The billing company came after the parent five or more years after the services were rendered. More often then not the delay puts the responsible parent outside of the allowable period for filing a health insurance claim with your insurance company. Generally most health insurance policies provide no bills would be covered after 12 months. The bills were created for care for my children and ex-wife who never turned them into my insurance or advised me so I could do it. When she filed for bankruptcy they came after me. Quite a surprise and no way was I paying them. The Judge agreed with me. He ruled the hospital and other medical service providers had a duty to turn the bills into my insurance company or to advise me within a reasonable period of time after the service or forgoe charging me as the parent. A reasonable period of time he determined to coincide with the health insurance contract one year provision. Besides that the proof stunk. The HIPPA forms were on blank paper and did not include the box descriptions to show what the amounts or numbers corresponded with. Without that proof everyone was left to guess. Okay enough talking, good luck in California. Steve Lombardi

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Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on June 10, 2008 (boomark / email).