In the majority of states a medical bill can be turned over to a collection agency at any time. Doesn't matter if you are paying on the bill or have an agreement with the doctors office. In some cases these collection agencies are NOT outside companies but an account receivable agency for the group of doctor's or clinics.
It is far more efficient to have a third party handle payments and invoicing. Kind of like having a 3rd party do your companies payroll.
You should ask the 'collection' agency if they are part of the group you owe the bill to. If so, it is far easier to negotiate with them.
If not, make sure the agency has correct information on file. You may actually be in the middle of a dispute between your insurance company and the billing office. If so, contact your doctors office to get this resolved asap and make sure they take the bill back from the collector. Get it ALL in writing.
If the bill was late enough to be sent to a collection agency, the collection of that bill has been turned over to that collection agency as well.
go to court
Any unpaid medical bill will remain your responsibility until it is paid in full. If you don't have insurance to pay the bill for you, then you will need to pay the bill. You can be turned over to a collection agency if the bill is not paid. Either the provider or the collection agency will work out a payment plan with you. The easiest way is to call them and let them know how much $$ per month you can afford to send until the bill is paid off.
no you can not
they would not allow us to break the contract and upon non-payment on my part they stopped the account from charging and turned it over to a collection agency
Once a delinquent account has been turned over to a collection agency, the physician's office should stop billing.
Yes.
Yes.
If the bill is turned over to a collection agency, it can remain on your credit for seven years from the date of last activity. ----------------------------------------- That is correct - 7 years. It can come off if you hire a credit attorney, though.
Most hospitals farm out collection accounts after 90 days of nonpayment to outside collection agencies.
yes
if the check was over $300 then yes you could be prosecuted