Collection Agency, Medical Bills, and My Credit?

Question

Last December I had an abcessed tooth that was giving me very bad headaches. I went to the ER a few times. I owe them a few hundred dollars but I haven't contacted them about it so now they sent it to a collection agency. What choices do I have? I want to pay the bill and I have the money now but who should I contact to pay? Would the ER accept payments from me even though they got a collection agency involved? Is my credit ruined? it's only been 5 months and I didn't think I'd have to pay them so soon. Money is hard to come by yet I don't want my credit ruined. Thank you.

Answer 1

Order your credit reports and see if the collection agency is reporting or not. You can get your free reports from www.annualcreditreport.com

With medical bills, under HIPAA, you do have the right to cut out the collection agency and pay the medical provider. If you have any contact with the collection agency you may be waiving your HIPAA rights.

If you want to use your HIPAA rights and pay the hospital, you would have to pay the full amount due. Which you say you have the money to pay, so that won't be a problem.

The hospital would HAVE to recall the debt from the collection agency and demand the collection agency remove anything about you in their files and remove anything they have placed on your reports.

You might go to the following site and read over the HIPAA letter page. When you use it with your payment, you would include (insert a ) in the letter.
http://whychat.5u.com/hipltr.html

If you have any questions about how to use that letter, etc., click on my profile (on here) and click on the last link listed. Feel free to ask any question you may have in the Medical Forum (which is a sub forum of the Credit Forum)

Answer 2

You can do a couple of things, send a letter to the collection agency telling them to cease all contact with you and send the account back to the original place because that is who you would like to deal with. Also include in the letter if they have reported anything negative to the credit bureau to have it deleted from you report. Let them know that circumstances and whatever you do get everything in writing. The next thing you can do would be to offer them a settlement amount but request that if it is accepted, they must delete any negative info from your credit file. Get this in writing before settling! You can also contact the ER and see if they have a income guideline for patients without insurance. Sometimes people are eligible for free care and they don't even know it. Next time don't go to the ER for a toothache! Try a dentist and if one isn't open, get a hold to some strong painkillers until they open!
Good Luck!

Answer 3

definite, they'll record it. definite you need to pay it (you're saying it replaced into ridiculous no longer that it is not valid. I actually have many expenses that i trust are ridiculous yet I even could pay). lenders frequently re-run credit and it truly is likewise re-run via QA Depts and investors. on the signature web page of your 1003, that you need to signal a very last reproduction of at ultimate, asks once you've any open collections or judgments so that you need to also be committing fraud.