Question:
Please advice.. How to deal with the collection agency
I had one very bad experience with the medical bill from one of the
leading hospital in san jose, CA(Regional Medical Center of San Jose).
Actually situation goes like this. My parents who are basically
citizens of india, came to visit me october 2004.
I had taken visitors medical insurance for my dad from a company called
SRI(specialty risk international), by paying almost $400 for one month.
My dad 65 years of age had previous problem of heart disease, he had
also undergone bypass surgery 6 years ago while he was in india.
One day he developed a chest pain and i drived him to the
emergency center in Regional Medical Center of San Jose. After
diagnosing him doctors came to the conclusion that the pain was because
of gas trouble which was caused by improper
bowel movements for the past few days.
Doctors report from the emergency center also states that the chest
pain was developed due to the Gas trouble. We stayed there for around 2
hours in the emergency and was later shifted to the ward and stayed
there for monitoring for around 10 hours, and was discharged after
that.
Actually hospital did not do any kind of treatment for dad, only thing
they did is few blood tests,x-rays, and had given preliminary heart
medication.
Later Hospital send a bill to insurance company SRI(specialty risk
international) for claim which was huge amount for about $6000. In
Addition $495 from the emergency center).
This includes mainly the xray charges,blood test charges,room charges
for 10 hrs and other misc.
SRI had also asked more information with my dad's doctor in india,
he replied in favour of us saying that my dad never had this kind of
trouble.
Later SRI send a letter stating that they won't cover any thing because
the condition was pre-existing, and they also stated that since dad had
the previous history of heart ailment, hospital had done some tests to
check the heart condition, and they don't pay anything to cover those
tests.
My dad send letter to SRI to reconsider the decision, and they did not
pay anything for this.
Actually my dad never had these kind of problems regarding indigestion
and lack of bowel movements before.
My dad went back to india immediately in early november 2004.
Later hospital had send the bill to my dad's india address asking him
to pay the full amount. My dad replied back to the hospital stating
that he cannot afford to pay this huge bill,
after converting the USD to Indian rupee, it's a huge amount for him to
afford.
Hospital had send this to collection agency to collect the money,
collection agency called me and told they had reduced the money to
almost $3600, they also inform dad about this.
Collection agency also told my dad that he has to pay this money by
june 20th, if he fails to pay the amount will automatically go back to
$6000.
Actually my dad is the person who is going to pay for this not me.And
for dad this amount is still a huge money to afford.
I wanted to know whether we have the room to negotiate further to
reduce this money.
I also wanted to know whether is there any way hospital or the
collection agency will ask me to pay this money for dad. Hospital did
not have any of my information in their records except my address and
phone no. I worry this because i sponsor my dad's visa to bring him to
the USA to visit us.
Please advice me how to deal with this situation.
Answer:
The hospital has a right to their payment (assuming the charges are
correct). At the same time, your father is entitled to performance of the
insurance contract by the insurance company. First, try F's suggestion. I
don't have much hope, but it doesn't cost anything to make the offer. If no
deal can be made, don't pay anything. The collection agency may drop the
matter eventually, because the amount is too small for litigation outside of
small claims court and because of the difficulties in collecting from an
Indian defendant with no assets in the U.S.
If the insurance company is operating in the U.S., your father should
consult a U.S. attorney about filing a claim against the insurance company
for bad faith. Chose an attorney who takes such cases on a contingency
basis. If an attorney experienced in such matters agrees that the case is
good, the attorney will sue the insurance company not only for performance
of the contract but also for attorney's fees and punitive damages.
I don't know anything about visas, but my instinct is that your sponsorship
doesn't mean you become liable for private debts.
