I know this only from a radio spot that ran locally some years ago. Anyway, their spots said (my paraphrase):
“A lot of people don’t know about their medical bills until they get a call from a collection agency—yet they had insurance to cover it.”
“We make *THREE telephone calls to follow up on your claim.”
Who would be the target audience for this kind of service? And what if it takes more than three phone calls? Sounds like the insured would be SOL.
*Yes “three,” not “free.” I listened very carefully to make sure of this.
I’ve never heard of a filing service before, but the line you quoted does make sense. What happens a lot of times is that the hospital/medical provider fills out the claim form wrong (wrong medical codes are common) and end up delaying a proper filing of the claim with the insurance company past the deadline. Under most insurance contracts the provider has one year to file their claim with the insurance or forfeit payment.
That doesn’t always stop them from trying to collect money though and these accounts often end up in collections. Since most people don’t know that the claim is not valid, some end up paying the bill anyway. I would guess that the three calls they refer to are…
To the insurance company to find out if and when a claim was filed and what their contract with the provider states.
Back to the collection agency advising them that the claim was filed past the deadline and therefore no money is owed.
To you letting you know not to worry about it.
The above is assuming that the claim actually isn’t valid. Situations, contracts and laws in your state may vary. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.
The fewer people have my personal and financial info, the better. I’ve never had a wild invoice floating around. If it doesn’t get paid, I get a notice. I don’t trust it.
