artifactguy
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Illinois
My father was enrolled in a nursing home that accepted medicaid in March 2002. In June 2002, as he funds were being depleted, we applied for Medicaid assitance. In August 2002, their finding was that there was a spend-down to meet before benefits would be paid.
I did not think their finding was correct, so I appealed to the Controller of the facility for advice. He volunteered to take up the case as he stated that the caseworker assigned to review our father's petition had, in his opinion, a poor track record of evaluating cases for Medicaid approval.
In August 2002, bills were mounting and our father no longer had assets to pay for the nursing home. Periodically from that point forward, the controller of the home would call to state that the appeal process was going well and everything was looking good. Each month we would get invoices for the nursing home care -- now in the tens of thousands of dollars. However, contrary to the nursing home's stated practice, we never received a call asking us for payment.
Our father passed away suddenly in May 2003. In July 2003, the controller called and asked us for final payment. He stated that the nursing home assumed my father owned a home and that asset would be used if Medicaid did not or would not pay. When I asked about his previous reassurances, it appears that nothing had been accomplished -- Medicaid was not re-reviewing the case.
Only in July 2003 did the controller and the vice-president get involved and hand selected another case worker. Apart from some minor differences, the original finding of Medicaid was found to be correct. The vice-president took over responsibility to try to get information from me that would be helpful to medicaid to pay the bill. We cooperated with Medicaid, but nothing more happened to sway their original decision.
This nursing home did not perform an evaluation of my father's assets in advance of his application to the nursing home. They assumed he owned a home (he rented an apartment). The contract I signed stated that only assets from my father would be used to pay for bills and I had no legal responsibility for them as his adult child.
However, several months later, I received a collection notice naming me, not my father, as responsible for the debt which was close to $60,000. I replied stating the debt is not mine and forwarded a copy of the contract stating I have no responsibility for this debt. That was in May 2004.
Since that time I have not heard back from the collection agency or representatives of the nursing home. I think the controller knew he made a consequential error in assuming that there was a home asset that would pay for the debt. He was the one in charge of nursing home finances, so I would think that we would have received demands for payment as the bills continued to grow.
I think that representatives of the nursing home are looking for someone to stick for their unfortunate error and it appears to be me. Is there a statute of limitations for them to collect this unsecured debt? It has been 8 months since the collection agency last contacted me. Should I expect them to file a lawsuit? How long would that normally take? I think they know they screwed up and are trying to pin it on me. Please advise. Thanks..
My father was enrolled in a nursing home that accepted medicaid in March 2002. In June 2002, as he funds were being depleted, we applied for Medicaid assitance. In August 2002, their finding was that there was a spend-down to meet before benefits would be paid.
I did not think their finding was correct, so I appealed to the Controller of the facility for advice. He volunteered to take up the case as he stated that the caseworker assigned to review our father's petition had, in his opinion, a poor track record of evaluating cases for Medicaid approval.
In August 2002, bills were mounting and our father no longer had assets to pay for the nursing home. Periodically from that point forward, the controller of the home would call to state that the appeal process was going well and everything was looking good. Each month we would get invoices for the nursing home care -- now in the tens of thousands of dollars. However, contrary to the nursing home's stated practice, we never received a call asking us for payment.
Our father passed away suddenly in May 2003. In July 2003, the controller called and asked us for final payment. He stated that the nursing home assumed my father owned a home and that asset would be used if Medicaid did not or would not pay. When I asked about his previous reassurances, it appears that nothing had been accomplished -- Medicaid was not re-reviewing the case.
Only in July 2003 did the controller and the vice-president get involved and hand selected another case worker. Apart from some minor differences, the original finding of Medicaid was found to be correct. The vice-president took over responsibility to try to get information from me that would be helpful to medicaid to pay the bill. We cooperated with Medicaid, but nothing more happened to sway their original decision.
This nursing home did not perform an evaluation of my father's assets in advance of his application to the nursing home. They assumed he owned a home (he rented an apartment). The contract I signed stated that only assets from my father would be used to pay for bills and I had no legal responsibility for them as his adult child.
However, several months later, I received a collection notice naming me, not my father, as responsible for the debt which was close to $60,000. I replied stating the debt is not mine and forwarded a copy of the contract stating I have no responsibility for this debt. That was in May 2004.
Since that time I have not heard back from the collection agency or representatives of the nursing home. I think the controller knew he made a consequential error in assuming that there was a home asset that would pay for the debt. He was the one in charge of nursing home finances, so I would think that we would have received demands for payment as the bills continued to grow.
I think that representatives of the nursing home are looking for someone to stick for their unfortunate error and it appears to be me. Is there a statute of limitations for them to collect this unsecured debt? It has been 8 months since the collection agency last contacted me. Should I expect them to file a lawsuit? How long would that normally take? I think they know they screwed up and are trying to pin it on me. Please advise. Thanks..
Check the debt collections section of this forum for the SOL as someone certainly has asked and was given the answer. Also, check on line for the federal and state statutes.