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da_park91 · Aug 23, 2009, 08:07 AM

I just got a mail about a medical bill that I hvaen't paid yet, apparently the collection agency received it to retrieve.

I'd rather much work with the hospital to pay the bills.

How can I do this? Should I just ignore the collection agency's mail (about 30 day respond thing) and call the hospital and arrange something?

What should I do if the hospital just refers me back to the collection agency?

Thanks

ScottGem · Aug 23, 2009, 08:11 AM

You can try calling the hospital to make an arrangement with them. But they may refer you back to the agency. If they do, then you have to deal with the agency.

da_park91 · Aug 23, 2009, 08:13 AM

If they do indeed refer me back to the agency, I guess there's no way but to deal with them.

Any advice? Should I contact them only via mail?

This is a pretty big medical debt (12,000 dollars), so I'll have to pay in long installments... any advice?

Technically, I'm not responsible for these since I was a minor when the medical treatments incurred... but the collection agency is mailing me, and my parents aren't US citizens and don't live in the US. I don't know what to do.

da_park91 · Aug 23, 2009, 08:15 AM

Also, do hospitals usually sell the entire debt when they use a collection agency?

Does the fact that the collection agency contacted me show that I probably have to deal with them, instead of the hospital?

I don't understand how this all happened so fast, I talked with a hospital financial person this may...

ScottGem · Aug 23, 2009, 08:19 AM

In my experience hospitals don't generally sell the debt, but once they assign it to collections, you will probably have to deal only with them.

You say you talked to the financial person in May. That's 3 months ago! Did you make a payment arrangement? Did you adhere to it?

da_park91 · Aug 23, 2009, 08:26 AM

No, she talked about how they can give me a 30% discount if I pay all at once. But I never received a bill with the 30% discount (I received the full bill april), and I tried calling her, she didn't pick up, didn't have a voice mail, then I had to go out of country for the summer, and now I receive this mail from the collection agency.