Question:
Though I paid all the monthly premium for our health insurance with one
of my past employer, but my past employer/finance dept. didn't clear
their dues with the insurance company.
It was a self funded insurance plan. The company did other financial
mistakes, and for all these, later on it went under federal/court
receivership.
At that time, under court's order, they tried to settle the dues with
the medical providers; but this particular collection company didn't
agree to the settlement offer. It was too low in their opinion.
We have letter from company that we didn't have any fault about these
medical bills. It was
fault/fraud of that company mgmt. Now these bills are on our name in
credit report and these are in collection. collection company is
disturbing/threating us a lot. They just want the money.
questions:
1) as there was no fault of ours (it was company's fault), can you stop
this collection copmany?
2) this collection copmany is saying they will send it to their Legal
dept for further action.
How can we stop this?
Answer:
A: You can stop the collection agency from contacting you in any way other than
filing a lawsuit, but there is no way to stop them from filing the lawsuit.
And no way to stop them from winning, assuming they have good evidence of
the debt (which I don't know) and assuming the statute of limitations has
not passes (which I also don't know).
Q: 2) this collection copmany is saying they will send it to their Legal
dept for further action.
How can we stop this?
A: You could pay the bill. Other than that, you can't stop them from handing
the file to their legal department or from filing a lawsuit.
If you want to stop them from contacting you prior to filing the lawsuit we
can advise on that. If you want advice on whether they will win, tell us
how old the debt is and how much it is and what the contract says which you
signed at the hospital or wherever, and we'll try. You might have some
defenses based on the age of the debt or the fact that the contract requires
the provider to look exclusively to the insurance company, or the fact that
the provider didn't bill properly or promptly. But you don't have any
defense based on the fact that non-payment wasn't your fault.
This answer must not be relied on as legal advice for the reasons posted
here: http://mcgyverdisclaimer.blogspot.com
