Credit Report help

[SnoopyCool]

My daughter had a visit to an ER out of state on 15 December 2006 year, which was under coverage of our insurance. On 19 September 2007 I receive a bill from the ER, stating the insurance wouldn't cover it. I also notice daughter's last name spelled wrong. I assumed that was the problem, so I leave a voicemail to the number stated on the bill to say try sending under correct spelling of name. Three weeks later, I receive a notice to collect a debt from a collection's agency.

I tried working through the collection's agency, but of course they just want to get paid. I tried contacting the hospital but account rep wouldn't return call. I did get in touch with someone in the billing department, and they gave me the contact information they were using to get paid and it was wrong. I did all the leg work and faxed the hospital with the correct claim's contact information and also called the collection agency and gave it to them. The insurance provider also agreed to fax a letter (as soon as they received the claim) that the payment was in process. I also faxed the bill to the insurance provider to make sure that they received it.

I contacted the BBB in that state and complained. They contacted the hospital and the hospital said they received the correct claims info and had submitted the bill.

Here's the problem. According to the collection's agent, if this isn't resolved by 1 November, this goes on my credit report. WHAT!?! Can they do that even though they're getting paid? If I verify that the claim did indeed make it to the provider and they are indeed in the process of payment, can the hospital go ahead and have the collection's agency put this on my report? This doesn't seem right.

BTW - I called Clark Howard's consumer action team and they advised me to go ahead and write up the dispute letters to send to the big 3 reporting agencies. I didn't think it was legal for them to report something as being delinquent or not paid when indeed it is being paid. Luckily, I've documented everything in case I do indeed need to dispute. Argh! My beautiful credit score may be tarnished!!!

[jIM_Ohio]

there is more to life than a good credit score.

if the issue is resolved, then nothing to worry about, IMO.

[sweeps]

This has been a big problem for me too. The hospital or doctor's office submits the wrong information to the right insurance company or the right information to the wrong insurance company.

After that the hospital or doctor's office doesn't care if the claim failed. They want to be paid and right now. The insurance company won't do anything until they have the perfectly correct claim information. So you're stuck in a Catch-22.

A few things I've done:
1. Continually call the hospital or doctor's office until you find someone who is competent and willing to help. (Finding someone who is both is not very easy.) One call and/or fax from that person to the insurance and it's a done deal.
2. Ask that the claim information be sent directly to YOU first, so you can review it and make sure it is accurate, then YOU send that information to the insurance company for processing. Politely request that it be expedited because the billing department has already deemed it to be late.
3. If you have insurance through an employer (particularly a big company), call the HR department to complain. They can lean heavily on the insurance company to get the ball rolling. The last thing they want is to tick off your employer -- you being angry they can deal with but not your employer. This trick has helped me a couple times.

Good luck to you.