Nov 6, 2009 11:26 pm US/Pacific
Call Kurtis: Unpaid Hospital Bill
California law says health plans must pay medical claims in a reasonable time frame. So is two years reasonable? Not to an Olivehurst student who was sent to collections over that very issue and decided to call me.
At 18, Brian Catlin was too young to have a heart attack. While working out at a Marysville gym, his chest started pounding and his buddy rushed him to Rideout Hospital, just a few blocks away. It turns out it wasn't a heart attack. They sent him home with nothing to worry about. Brian didn't worry about the bill either. His Kaiser plan would pay it. That was in July, 2007. In June, 2009, he got a call from a collections agency. It turns out Kaiser never paid the bill. He called Kaiser and a month later and they sent him a letter apologizing for their mistake and said they paid the bill.
"I figured 'that's gonna be it,' and then apparently not," said Brian.
A month later, he learned his wages were being garnished to pay the bill.
"So I'm freaking out. I don't know what's going on," said Brian.
Rideout Hospital had already sent him to a collections agency, which then took him to court and got a judgment against him for the amount plus legal fees. But Brian wasn't ever in court because he says he didn't know about any of this.
Brian says he was told those notices and summons were sent to his parents' rental property in Marysville. He hasn't live there in four years, so he never got them. Then the collection agency garnished his wages to pay the judgment of $3,346.14.
We contacted the State Department of Managed Health Care for Brian. They in turn escalated his case to their help center attorneys. Within a matter of a week, Kaiser contacted Brian. They admitted their error and said they would be paying all of his remaining fees of more than $3,300. It was a huge relief to a nightmare he never again wants to endure.
So how did this happen? Kaiser won't say but sent us this statement today:
"We have apologized to this member for the inconvenience he has experienced. We have paid the original bill, along with all associated fees and court costs. We also are working to prevent any adverse effect on the member's credit information as a result of this error. We take this member's concerns very seriously and have reviewed our procedures and training to prevent this from occurring again.
After our investigation, the state is now investigating Kaiser for possibly breaking state law. If you run into an issue with your HMO the department of managed healthcare has a help center for you. Their website is www.healthhelp.ca.gov.
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