Consumer complaint received 2017-12-05
Company: State Collection Service, Inc.
State: GA
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Medical debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt is not yours

Complaint:
This debt is for XXXX XXXX received by a dependent but this debt was not filed with insurance as required in the contract between the insurance company XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and the preferred provider ( XXXX ). I continuously call XXXX about medical billing issues even though we informed the providers many times our insurance information has changed. In XXXX, I had XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) health insurance. In XXXX, I switched to Government XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) managed by XXXX for billing purposes. In XXXX, I stayed with XXXX but XXXX took over the billing. With all of these changes came new billing addresses. My insurance member ID changed when I went from XXXX to XXXX but was the same when XXXX switched from XXXX to XXXX. I see how this could cause confusion in processing early in the calendar year but not months later. I cant count how many times I called XXXX to provide them with the correct information. 

Upon receiving a bill weeks ago stating the bill was going to collections, I called XXXX and told them there must be a mistake because I have insurance. Without looking into it, XXXX turned it over to collections. I responded to the collections company in writing. I explained I had insurance but XXXX must have never filed ( at least correctly ) a claim with XXXX. Today, I had other bills needing corrections by XXXX so I decided to tackle the XX/XX/XXXX bill again. First, I called about a XX/XX/XXXX bill. A XXXX   customer service representative ( CSR ) told me it was in collections so I was transferred to the collection agency. The CSR I spoke to seemed compassionate as she took my insurance information to submit the claim correctly. Will it be? Who knows? I would like for the collection company to submit the claim for {$140.00} correctly before it becomes an issue like the bill I am about to discuss. 

Later the same day I called XXXX about the XX/XX/XXXX ( date of service ) bill. The XXXX CSR informed me my claim was filed by a doctor that did not join the network until after my claim was filed. I explained to her XXXX turned me over to collections. She told me she would call XXXX if I wanted and explain what needed to be done to correct the claim. She informed me XXXX was under contract and had to follow the submission rules for reimbursement. She told me I would not be responsible for their mistakes. She called XXXX while I was on the phone. Unbelievably we sat in the queue for XXXX to XXXX minutes as number one in the queue. Finally someone answered. After pulling up the account information, the XXXX CSR informed us she could not help but she would transfer us to the person handling our account ( code for collections ). After sitting on hold for XXXX to XXXX minutes more, a CSR in collections finally answered. We explained the situation. The CSR told us she could not fix that problem. She said only XXXX could fix that problem. We explained XXXX was the one that said we had to speak to them ( collections ). The CSR said we needed to call XXXX back and explain the situation so they would understand it was a problem only XXXX could fix. We told her we explained the situation to XXXX the same way we explained it to her. The XXXX apologized. After realizing we were getting nowhere, we hung up. I gathered some information from the XXXX CSR and told her I wouldnt put her through the torture of sitting on hold for a half hour again. I then called XXXX without her. This XXXX CSR told me the same thing - XXXX cant fix the situation because it was in collections. Round and round we go. I am writing this letter to document everything I tried to correct the situation and show that my dependent nor I are responsible for this bill. 

Here is the information I received from XXXX : Their customer service number is XXXX. The person from XXXX that tried to speak to XXXX today is XXXX. She said she is the only XXXX in Customer Service. My XXXX  member ID number in XXXX was XXXX. XXXX stated that if the bill would have been submitted with XXXX XXXX, there would have been no issues. I may not completely understand how insurance works but I do know XXXX screwed this all up when they took over the practice. 

Heres what I know. We have been going to this family practice for years. It was a family practice run by a husband/wife doctor team. XXXX purchased the practice but the doctors continued to work there. Since the purchase, we found out our medical records have been lost and apparently our billing records have been compromised as well. We always paid our copay before the doctor would see us. After our doctor visit, they filed the insurance claim. These are things I can not control. 

I spoke on the phone to XXXX and XXXX Collections about this matter. We did not come to a satisfacory resolution.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation