What is the name of your state? Illinois. My husbands son turned 18 in january of 2006. (he just turned 19) We still have two minor children that we are responsible for the medical expenses, but this one, we were no longer responsible when he turned 18 (per the divorce agreement, which says our obligation automatically terminates). I had a pharmacy bill show up with charges from him included, wrote the pharmacy a letter, they removed his charges and sent a new bill. not a problem. The doctors office, however, is another story. He has two hundred dollars in charges from going to the doctor, and they are on the same account as the minor children we are responsible for, and the doctors office refuses to remove the charges from our account and bill them to him. I wrote them a letter two months ago, new bill showed up, charges still there. I wrote them another letter last month, included a copy of the divorce agreement this time, just got a new bill, charges still there, so we called them. The billing lady says she "can't" remove them, because she doesnt have an address to bill him. (I have given it to them in writing for the last two months). We gave her the address to bill him, she still won't remove them. She said all she can do is send him a bill too, with the minor childrens charges on there. Does this make any sense? She want's to know why we can't pay them and seek reimbursement from him. We aren't their collection agency. Is this legal what they are doing? How do I get them to remove the charges we are not responsible to pay? This is the only office I've had this problem with. The rest have cooperated. This office refuses to remove the charges and bill him, and I don't understand why they can't. One of these charges is from september, and is putting the account in delinquent status.
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doctors office refuses to remove charges from our minor childrens account
- Thread starter sbeeman
- Start date
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Zigner
Senior Member, Non-Attorney
When you first took your (now adult) son to the doctor, did you agree to be responsible for his charges? (hint, that's a standard form in the big bundle of paperwork that you fill out)
PS: The doc doesn't care about your divorce agreement - they're not a party to it.
PS: The doc doesn't care about your divorce agreement - they're not a party to it.
seniorjudge
Senior Member
I agree with your answer....
You mean when he was five? No, it was in the divorce agreement. The ex took them to the doctor, and had the bills sent here, and we paid them. Now, the ex takes the minor children to the doctor, and the one whos nineteen, lives on his own, has a full time job, and took himself to the doctor. He just didn't tell them (when he went) that they need to bill him. He went in, waved bye bye when he left and let them bill us. And the doctors office ASSUMED the charges were ours. So if they don't care about the divorce agreement, and they don't care that he's an adult and is responsible for his own debt, what do we do? Just pay his bills until he sees fit to tell the doctors office he decided he wants to pay them himself? I didn't have this problem with anyone else. They promptly removed his charges and sent him his own bill.
Zigner
Senior Member, Non-Attorney
While I agree that the notice given *should* be sufficient - The FATHER should really send a letter, certified mail, return receipt requested, stating that the FATHER is no longer accepting responsibility for charges incurred by his adult son. This has nothing to do with the divorce agreement.
Pay the bill and sue the son?
I like the way you think, MrsK
Thanks!
Personally, if it were me, I'd call & talk with my son & warn him to pay his bill and to make sure he never, EVER did this again, and to let him know he has X number of days to correct this situation before I paid the bill myself and would see him in civil court to be reimbursed.
LdiJ
Senior Member
In all reality the reason why the doctor's office hasn't removed this from the father's bill is because the person responsible for collections knows that they barely have a hope in heck in collecting from the 19 year old.....so the hope is that they can intimidate/coerce the parent into paying....and they are unlikely to let go.
However, at the same time they are also unlikely to take it any further than in house collections, because they also know that the patient is a legal adult. Again, they might try to argue the issue that they weren't properly notified that the guarantor had withdraw the guarantee....but its iffy at best and they really are unlikely to take it beyond in house collections.
BUT...if they are really stubborn they might refuse to provide services to the other children until the bill is paid....and the doctor might not even know what the billing staff is doing.
If this were me....I would be asking to speak to the doctor. If speaking to the doctor did no good or the doctor refused to speak to me, then I would be changing my children's doctor.
Of course, you may not have that option...therefore a carefully worded letter by an attorney might be in order....but might cost you just as much as the bill...sigh. Which is what the billing staff is hoping...that the cost and hassle of fighting them won't be worth the bill.
However, at the same time they are also unlikely to take it any further than in house collections, because they also know that the patient is a legal adult. Again, they might try to argue the issue that they weren't properly notified that the guarantor had withdraw the guarantee....but its iffy at best and they really are unlikely to take it beyond in house collections.
BUT...if they are really stubborn they might refuse to provide services to the other children until the bill is paid....and the doctor might not even know what the billing staff is doing.
If this were me....I would be asking to speak to the doctor. If speaking to the doctor did no good or the doctor refused to speak to me, then I would be changing my children's doctor.
Of course, you may not have that option...therefore a carefully worded letter by an attorney might be in order....but might cost you just as much as the bill...sigh. Which is what the billing staff is hoping...that the cost and hassle of fighting them won't be worth the bill.