Mystery Medical Bill

How Do You Pay A Bill If You Never Got It?

If you've ever been in an accident and rushed to the hospital, you know there's a lot going on all at once. And not only is there a lot of consfusion, but you're usually in pain and pretty out of it at the same time, so it's possible that some things get lost in translation.

That's what happened to a young couple from Brooklyn. They went to the hospital and wound up in collections.

Liudmila and Madsimas Liubcinas are fairly new to this country. In just five years they've learned English, earned advanced degrees and are both working. A recent notice in the mail frightened them..pay up or else. It was a bill for $482.00

"Basically we are new to this country," said Liudmila. "We didn't know all the policies and all the regulations, but they didn't want to listen to us."

She's referring to the collection agency that sent the notice. She wasn't getting much help on the phone. But she did learn what was behind the notice.

"My husband had an accident two years ago at the gym," said Liudmila. "An emergency ambulance escorted him to the hospital. We had health insurance at that time. We thought everything was covered. It was two weeks ago last week.

An accident with faulty weights, tore Madsimas' fingernail off and broke his finger.
The gym called an ambulance and it turns out the Fire Department billed for the ambulance.

"We told them we never got any bills from the Fire Department," Liudmila explained. "They said our best bet would be to contact our HIP insurance. We called HIP and they said they never received a claim from the Fire Department. They also told us it is the Fire Department's responsibility to bill the insurance company, not the patient's.

Liudmila called the collection agent back. "They said health insurance can tell you whatever they tell you, but we are still responsible for the bill." Then she double checked again with HIP.

"The first question I asked them was "did my health insurance cover the transportation to the hospital?"... and they said, "Yes, absolutely."

Another question, "did they take her husband's insurance card in the emergency room?" Liudmila says they took all his personal information, his health insurance information, everything was on filed at the time of the accident.

But it turns out that one bill mailed to the couple came back to the Fire Department as 'undeliverable. ' The couple had moved. So when no claim was submitted by the Fire Department OR the couple, HIP didn't even know to pay it.

Liudmila is worried. "We are a middle class struggling family," she said. "In this economic situation it's very hard to find an additional $400.00 for something. It's not our fault we didn't get the letter," she said.

After our calls, the Fire Department agreed. "Due to the circumstances of this special case,
the Fire Department will ask the collection agency to waive the fee," according to Frank Dwyer with the FDNY.

We were happy to help. The cost of an ambulance ride is often covered by your insurance, but it's up to you to follow up the claim through the system.