Medical Bills/Medicaid Issues

[moe15]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?NY

Ok, this is a long old situation that is still being delt with and I am losing my patience. I need some advice or suggestions as to what I should be doing now.
I lost my job in 2002 due to an injury and was calling to apply for medicaid or family health plus insurance in NY. When calling the 800 #, they gave me a # and location for a facilitated enroller to help me apply for what ever program I was eligible if any.
I went there and filled out all information with an enroller who said "yes you definately qualify for medicaid because you have no income" I explained to her that I was in the middle of dental care and could not stop (in the process of fitting for mouth guard for TMJ) she said "go ahead and keep going because it will be retroactive from a certain time.
This enroller told me that the application process would take a few weeks to get my card in the mail, that no other steps were necessary. I called after 6 wks to see what the hold up was and she tried to tell me that she had been calling my house (has an answering machine) and that I was missing info. I went that day to hand in the info and she was not in the office as she said she would be, so I left it at the front receptionist. This left her with an opportunity to say she never got it. She never called again, and I allowed another few wks to go by in order for the application to go through as she instructed the first time.
As another few wks go by, I call again, this time she does not answer and does not return my 5-8 messages left over a course of wks. In the meantime I have dental bills racking up.
To make it shorter, I got a probono lawyer to help me sort this out to get the bill paid because they lost my paperwork and were not doing their job. She said that the facilitated enrollers boss is a well known and liked person of the community and she would try to get this fixed but if she was not able, she would not sue or take action further, that I would then have to consider hiring someone or taking other action. It has been since 2002 and we have just gotten the run around, and my bill still stands and will be in collections because I just cannot afford the bill (I am on pregnancy leave right now, and still have the injury so I only work PT)
Who can get this resolved, or should I just take them to court?

 

[ellencee]

Are you so blinded by your emotions that you can not see what you are saying?
You had a mouth guard made in 2002 for TMJ and three years later, you have not paid even $5 a month BUT you are pregnant?
Honey, prenatal care alone costs more than a mouth guard.
You are never going to convince any court that the taxpayers should pay for your mouth guard. Pay your dental bill.
EC

 

[moe15]

Re

I actually have paid over $200.00 for this medical bill because I was aware that not all of the costs would be covered. It was not all for just a mouth guard either, it was cavities, preventative care, x-rays, plus the TMJ issues. They would not touch the TMJ issue until the other stuff was completed.

 

[moe15]

Also

I now have health insurance that covers ALL of my prenatal care, thanks for your concern

 

[purple2]

If you had a lawyer taking care of it, I'm not clear why you need additional assistance. Are you saying the lawyer didn't take action?

If you want to do this w/o a lawyer, my advice is to organize all of your notes and paperwork regarding this issue, in chronological order. Make a summary--as brief as possible--indicating you were told you qualified and outlining all the steps you took to get this resolved. Then send it by certified mail to the director of the facilitated enrollment program and ask for a written response within 10 business days.

I'm guessing there was a determination that you did not qualify for low/no cost health insurance but someone failed to notify you of this. If that's the case, you will still owe the bill. Patients are always the one ultimately responsible for ensuring their bills are paid, even if they have a dispute going on with their health insurer. The best thing right now would be to take a bank loan and make payment in full to the healthcare providers.

You are asking about suing, but what would you sue for? Your healthcare providers can sue you for nonpayment.