[nessa317]

In February, 2006 my husband and I took temporary custody of his younger brother while their mom was incarcerated. Soon after, we noticed he had severe sleep apnea and took him to a doctor to see what could be done. We ended up renting a respiratory machine from February up until June and were told his Medicaid would cover the costs. This year, we ran our credit hoping to buy a house and saw an outstanding bill from the respiratory machine provider had been sent to collections. We immediately called the collection agency and were told they were ready to take us to court unless it was paid. We explained that the child was covered by Medicaid at the time and, therefore, it didn't make sense that we were being billed. The agent said that if we paid it off right then, we would avoid going to court and once we provided proof of coverage at the time, we would get reimbursed. So we paid off the balance of $900 with our tax return and got to work on obtaining proof of his Medicaid coverage. We were finally sent the verification and were ready to take it to the collection agency's office but when we called the agent, he said it was Medicaid that would have to reimburse us. We called Medicaid who said they don't do that and it is the COLLECTION agency's job. We are so confused and feel like we somehow got screwed over. Is there any way to get our money back- any law protecting us from what this collection agency did? I keep hearing a collection agency CANNOT collect money from someone who can provide proof of coverage, but did the agent find a loop hole in telling us to pay it off and get reimbursed later? Please help! We live in Colorado if that means anything...

[excon]

but did the agent find a loop hole in telling us to go ahead and pay it off and get reimbursed later? Please help! We live in Colorado if that means anything...

Hello n:

It really wasn't a loophole. They just played you. You didn't have to pay first. Oh, I understand why you did. You believed them. That was your first mistake. I'll bet you didn't get their promise to reimburse you in writing either...

That's OK. You didn't know. They screwed you, but that's what collection agencies do. I'd sue them. They probably have a registered corporate agent in your state, and that's who I'd sue.

excon

[Fr_Chuck]

The collection company lied to you, they do that to collect money, they scared you to get you to pay, what you should have done was to say, great sue me, I don't owe it.

Then you go to medicaid and find out why they did not pay and get them to pay.

You need to get medicaid to pay, if they were suppose to, then you can approach the medical company about repayment for being paid twice.