Last year my medical bills were not paid by MC because somehow it got into their system that I was the "working elderly" and that my company insurance was primary. How dare they call me elderly!!! I wasn't working and the error was theirs-of course I had to fix it. Today I got a year of DH's medical bills claiming that he was working and had BS of Atlanta (we live in Fl). Apparently he slipped out of his dementia facility and got up to Atlanta to work-NOT. I spent over 3 hours on the phone-either on hold or being transferred from department to department. Finally got to coordinator of benefits who could not talk to me because of HIPAA. I faxed my POA and DH's MC info. I have to go through the whole thing again next week when some dear soul has my POA in hand. After they fix THEIR error it will be up to me to call all creditors and try to fix things. I didn't have enough heartache with Bill declining.
Oh, Bluedaze, I am so sorry. With all you are going through and then have to deal with this! My thoughts and prayers are with you - and hopefully, the dear soul you contact next week will be someone who knows what's what.
Is this the definition of a "tragedy or errors"? HIPAA is a wonderful thing until you have to deal with some of what it causes. I am so sorry you ran into this. Hopefully it won't be too much of a nightmare to clean up.
Bluedaze, I've been in this kind of mess with our insurance company before and the more people I talked to, the more frustrated I got. Finally wound up in tears when I kept getting transferred from one department to another. You can't argue with the information in their computer, even if it's dead wrong. I'm so sorry you are going through this in addition to dealing with Bill's decline.
Now I'm not sleeping because of this MC mess. Part my fault-when I got the CMS notices stating "this is not a bill" I didn't think I had to do anything. Now I have a collection agency bugging me and it's not my fault. All this just doesn't get any easier.
First, warning to all: Medicare does NOT recognize a POA. You have to fill out a HIPAA waiver for your spouse, and use your POA to do that. (I know, it makes no sense, but that's the way it is.) Once you have a Medicare HIPAA waiver, they will deal with you directly.
bluedaze, I am so sorry you have to deal with this mess at this time. It seems like it's always a crisis time that these things go wrong, and of course you don't have the energy or patience to deal with it. Perhaps you have a friend or neighbor willing to help out? They can just claim to be you, so they don't have to deal with all the idiocy about POA and HIPAA. They could prepare letters for you to sign, arrange for mailing them, etc. (See below.)
Now, perhaps, you can simply ask Medicare to send new notices to all creditors (which they should have to do anyway) about which charges have now been approved, and the payments that they do owe. The next time you talk with someone there, see if they have some sort of form that they use in cases like this (it happens all the time.) Cry a little, play on their sympathy over your husband's situation, you just might find someone who'll go the extra mile for you.
It was not your fault at all if you didn't do anything about a CMS notice, because you do not HAVE to do anything about a CMS notice -- the notice is not a bill. It's the bills from the provider that must be dealt with, and they send those out after medicare has decided what is covered by medicare. Didn't the providers send you bills? They not only should have sent bills, but also warnings that they were about to turn things over to a collection agency.
You do NOT have to deal with a blank-blank-blank collection agency.
You don't have to deal with a collection agency, it does you no good to deal with them (even if you pay them off, it stays on your credit history), and they're usually low-lifes who will do all sorts of illegal things to try to coerce you into something you don't have to do.
Do not talk to them on the phone, at all, for any reason. Do NOT. If they are calling, let all calls go into voicemail and return only those you want to talk to. They're not allowed to threaten you, or harrass you, or misrepresent the situation ... but they will, as long as you let them get away with it. So simply do not talk to them.
Send a registered (be sure to send it registered, so they know you can prove they got it) letter to the collection agency informing them that you will not deal with them, that you will ONLY deal with the original creditor, and demand that they stop attempting to contact you by any means. They are allowed to send you one more letter, telling you how they intend to proceed. Tell them that if they intend to contact you one more time, they are to do it in writing ONLY, that you will not communicate by phone. (If they do send a letter, it may sound very ominous, but it is usually all sound and fury, implying that they'll take you to court yadda yadda, but it usually only implies that, and they usually don't follow through. It simply costs too much, and isn't worth their time and money. Not to mention, they don't have any right to do that if you insist on dealing directly with the creditor.) Now, they are quite likely to ignore your letter, but if they do, they have a problem. What they'll probably do is just keep calling ... so just keep your phone on voicemail, and keep a record of every call they make.
Furthermore, if you dispute that you owe money, they are required by law to stop contacting you until they can prove that you do. If you dispute that you are responsible for the debt because it's Medicare that owes the money (which MC does) then they'd have an awful time providing you with proof. So in your letter, tell them that you intend to deal solely and directly with the creditor simply because you do NOT owe them any money, it's a simple misunderstanding, and you have proof of that, which you intend to use to resolve the issue.
If the collection agency persists in harrassing you, you can file a lawsuit against them, and they know it. You can also file a complaint against them with the Feds. So send the registered letter, don't answer the phone, and unless and until you get a notice from a law firm or court that you are being sued, ignore them. Keep a file (including dates and times and contents of voicemail messages) in case you ever do have to fight them through legal channels. However, chances are very good that you won't, and even better that they'd lose.
Send another letter to the original creditor, telling them that you have refused to deal with the collection agency. Explain that the problem was at Medicare's end; tell them that, now that you have discovered there is a problem, you are working diligently to get the problem fixed; explain that you have no wherewithal to pay expenses that are actually owed by Medicare; tell them how very sorry you are for the inconvenience; and ask them to resubmit their bills to Medicare. It would probably be a good idea to send these letters by registered mail, too.
I find that sending letters (or faxes, they work as well as registered letters for providing proof) is easier on my nervous system than dealing by phone. Plus letters give you written proof of who said what when. On the other hand, some providers can actually be very nice to deal with by phone, so if you have prior experience where they were pleasant with you, you may want to try that. A few tears at judicious times during the conversation are quite helpful. I wouldn't hesitate to tell them about your husband's health situation. Many people will be very sympathetic and helpful if you give them a chance.
Bluedaze, I cannot help other than to tell you how sorry I am, what a mess you have to take care now on top of everything . Sending you hugs and prayers.
I agree with Sunshyne, to send letters or faxes or even emails to clear up messes like this. if i have any issues with ref to HIPPA laws sending the letters and having the 'signature' of the covered spouse will work much faster. then you wont have to deal with the using of POA.. if you dont have anyone challenging this its much easier as sunshyne says you have firm written records of sent docs and any replies from them will be written as well. i would avoid phone contact period if i could. i sure hope you get things cleared up soon..stress is something none of us needed to add to AD. Divvi
It would be so nice to have someone actually get me out of this mess instead of just another chore for me. Some days it gets to be too much. Thanks for all suggestions. Next week I'll tackle the mess. It seems no matter how well you think you have covered the bases someone still steals home.
Speaking as a physician, I can say that HIPAA causes many problems. I hit one yesterday that really surprised me. My sister fell and injured her knee. I examined it and felt it was only bruised, but I wanted to talk to the doctor in the ER to be sure she didn't need to be seen. The ER nurse said she could not allow me to talk with the doctor due to HIPAA. At that point all I had told her was that I was a physician and that I wanted to talk to another physician. How rediculous is that?
I agree with Sunshyne's suggestions regarding collection agencies, etc.
I agree = registered letters. With a fax the receipt only says it went through. There is no proof anyone will pick it up. If you fax, you at least need to phone to verify they received it and take the person's name you speak to. With a registered letter there is proof that it was received in the office. Nice thing with the internet you can track it online then print out the receipt notice. Saves the cost of paying for return receipt.
Thought I'd give you an update. I called Hospice and believe it or not they didn't notice that they were not being paid either. They will try to fix the situation and I'm sure they have more clout that I do. To be continued.
Something nice happened today. I mentioned to a casual friend in my aerobics class what was going on with Medicare. About an hour later I hear some one at my door. She had mentioned my problem to her husband. He went on line, downloaded and printed the Medicare POA form for me. He had never heard of it before either but realized he would need it for a relative he looks after. I'm so used to doing everything my self that I almost cried when someone helped. I have this crazy fear that once I admit I can't be all things to all people I'll fall apart.
bluedaze, you've got neighbors like the ones who are helping me who also came out of nowhere.
As I said in a different thread, some of the people who ask if they can help really do mean it. Give them something they can do and they will be happy to do it.
So unfair! What a mess, so sorry to hear of all this on top of Bill declining. I don't know a thing about it, but Sunshyne certainly seems to know. it is wonderful that someone came to help you. I'm sure we all would want to be there to help and take over for you, if we could. I know you must be feeling overwhelmed. Take a deep breath & snuggle with your wonderful cats. I call it cat therapy.
That's what I liked about living in Europe, I paid a monthly REASONABLE bill for health insurance, never saw a doctor's bill, had excellent care, no waiting in clinics (a myth), no co-pays, could switch doctors at any time, no paper work for 6 years. I was actually afraid to come back to the USA due to the medical system, was about to move to Montreal, but they had just switched to French as their mother tongue, & couldn't do that to my son, expecting him to learn & take courses in yet another language. This medical system really needs fixing. My ex-husband, a kidney doctor & I used to have heated debates about this. I just don't understand why we can't join in with the rest of the civilized world.
Bluedaze, I am so sorry that you are having to deal with this frustration. I hate dealing with government bureaucracy!!!!! It's the pits. Good luck tomorrow