Consumer complaint received 2019-08-29
Company: Jon Barry and Associates, Inc.
State: MO
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action
Sub-issue: Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged

Complaint:
Back in XX/XX/XXXX a debt collector company named Paragon Revenue Group contacted me via phone and said they were here to collect a debt from a date of service from XX/XX/XXXX.I proceeded with questions on who it was for and what medical facility. It was for my daughter who at the time of service she was only XXXX years old and it was from the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX here in XXXX, MO. I told them that I wasn't going to pay the bill over the phone till I done my investigation on this bill because we knew absolutely nothing about it. We never once got a bill from the hospital. They told me in a mean and hateful voice that I was the responsible parent and I had to pay the bill. I told them that at the moment I am not paying anything till I figure out what is going on. So I started digging deeper and found out that at the date of service the hospital didn't bill the insurance correctly. They only billed the secondary insurance and not the primary insurance. The hospital shut down and another hospital in a different city took over some of the billing. I contacted the hospital that took over the billing and had them to rebill the insurance. I gave the lady both insurances. She stated there shouldn't be a problem. A few months passed and Paragon Revenue Group contacted me again stating that I need to pay the bill in full. I told them once again that I wasn't paying anything just yet that I am trying to get this bill resubmitted with the correct insurance co. Paragon told me it wouldn't do me any good since it was now in collections and once stated again that I needed to pay since I was the parent of the child. I told them that I am still investigating this bill and I am in contact with the insurance co and working on this bill. Once insurance co got the bill for it to be resubmitted it was denied. Insurance said it was my fault for not providing the insurance. Which I did. The hospital had it. They just didn't bill it correctly. I later than got a health advocate from the insurance co to help me with this case. I submitted all sorts of documents to the health advocate such as EOBs from both insurance, copy of the bill from the debt collector, proof of insurance for date of service, proof of claim where I filed a claim with the primary insurance to have billed paid. Never once did I ever receive a bill from the hospital just the debt collector. I have now received about 3 bills from the Paragon Revenue Group for final notice to collect and it has hit my credit. I have disputed it with my credit. After the case with the health advocate started we then discovered I lost the case against the insurance co. They stated that in the insurance policy that they have the right to refuse to pay a bill if older than 365 days and it was. But I argued back stating that we knew nothing about the bill until the debit collector contacted me wanting me to pay. Insurance co told me there was nothing they could do about it. I filed a medical claim form, had the bill resubmitted several different times, but they refused to pay it every time. In their defense they argued that the bill was older than 365 days which I had it resubmitted once I found out about it when Paragon contacted me regarding the bill. Paragon contacted me once again so this time I tried to set up payment plans but it wasn't going to be anything that I could afford. They didn't offer anything else. I asked them what cash pay discount could I get and it was going to be 10 % off the bill which was still very high for me to pay. No other options were available to me from them. I told them at this time I couldn't afford that. For me to have gotten the discount I was going to have to pay in full that day, which I couldn't. Paragon Revenue Group was very rude every time I had spoken to them, they acted like making small payments would be a waste of their time but I was going to do what I could afford.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation