Questions about hiring a lawyer?

B

B'sMomma

New member
I have a hospital bill for surgery I had in 2007 that insurance has never paid, despite the fact that they sent me a letter stating that it should have been covered. The hospital has turned the bill over to a collection agency. So far the agency has been patient with me and has not put it on our credit report.

Over a month ago the HR department at my husband's employer (he carries the insurance) told me it would be taken care of. Now HR is not returning my calls, and I'm not getting anywhere talking to the insurance company directly. So I've decided to hire a lawyer and let him take care of it from here on out.

Do I...
a) call the HR dept, insurance company, and collection agency and give them x amount of time to resolve this before I call a lawyer.

b) call HR, insurance, and collection agency and tell them my lawyer will be handling the claim from here on out.

c) just not call and let the lawyer take care of it.
My husband has talked to his HR dept as well as the insurance co with no more luck than me.

Insurance definately has not paid the bill. The customer service reps I've spoken to have confirmed that, but they are unable to resolve the case. The customer service reps tell me that they will contact their superiors (who never seem to be available when I call) and promise a return call that never happens.

Another question regarding collecting damages... I have spent countless hours on the phone (I have kept a record of every phone call), have stressed over the possibility that the unpaid bill has affected our credit, and have been forced to hire an attorney because I have exhausted every other option I know of to resolve the claim. Wouldn't I at least be able to collect for the attorney's fees?
For the record, I am not in the least bit interested in collecting anything other than the actual bill and attorney's fees. I have never sued anyone before and had no intentions of ever doing so. I am not money hungry and have no desire to sue for "pain & suffering" or any other crap like that. I just want my bill paid.
 
The first thing you should do is to let your husband call his HR department and his insurance company. Since he is the primary insured, and because he is the employee, he will likely have more luck getting answers.

Second, send a copy of the statement from your insurance company back to your insurance company, and ask them for proof that they have paid their bill like they were supposed to. Your insurance company should have a department which specializes in back pay billing and delinquent accounts. There is a good possibility that the hospital misfiled your account, and that your insurance company did pay. If the insurance company finds that they did not pay, they will take care of all further details in a hurry. If the insurance company finds that they did pay, they will send you proof of payment which you must forward to the collection agency and to the hospital.

If you do hire an attorney, be aware that attorney's fees will be quite high. Make sure that the amount the attorney charges is less than your hospital bill, because otherwise you'll be wasting your time and money.

At this point, you are not entitled to damages, because no damage has been done to you. As long as this doesn't go to your credit account, it is unlikely that you will collect more than the amount due to the collection agency.
 
If you're going to go to the expense of hiring an attorney, let the attorney handle everything from here on. If you receive any phone calls, refer the caller to the attorney.
 
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