Broke International Student - In Need of Advice
Date: Sun, 10/16/2011 - 20:44
I am a Canadian Citizen, who is studying to become a doctor and who will be seeking an american greencard within the next few years. In May of this year I was doing a rotation at a medical school in New York, when I found myself in the emergency room of the hospital. I had travel insurance, and also had paid a student health fee when I registered at the medical school. I was told that everything was fine and not to worry about payment, my insurance information was taken down and I returned to confirm that everything was fine a few days later. I was once again told not to worry and that everything was taken care of. I repeatedly checked my mail over the course of the next month and received no letter regarding this situation, and returned to Canada.
This all occurred 5 months ago, during which time I have been shifting from place to place continuing to study. A few days ago I received a phone call from a Collection Agency called Vision something (Not entirely sure of the name, I was a bit shell shocked) saying that I owed a doctors bill of $475. I informed them of the situation, they checked the file and said the insurance company was mentioned and I should check with them to see why they did not pay. After talking to the insurance company I was told that they would not be paying because the claim was not opened within 90 days of my insurance claim, and that I should contact the hospital. The hospital informed me that I also had an outstanding bill of $1500 with them, and that they will be handing it over to a collection agency at the end of the month, and that they tried to process my insurance claim by had taken it down incorrectly. Since I had moved neither the insurance company nor the collection agency were able to contact me.
The collection agency is dealing with the Doctors portion of the emergency room visit, which is billed seperatly from the hospital. I understand that I must pay my debt, but as a student who is not working, has no source of income, and has no possessions of any worth (except a 6 year old stereo) I am in dire need of advice.
As for the collection agency. They say that they will reduce my debt to $400 if I agree to pay over the phone via debit card, credit card or cheque. I find this incredibly sketchy and require advice as to whether or not I can trust giving this kind of information over the phone, or if I should proceed with other methods of payment. I am not sure how to verify the amount, or anything, so please let me know what I should do. I also require more time than they are giving me, they said they will provide me with 10 days to pay, since I have only come to know about this debt a few days ago. what are my rights in this regard?
As for the hospital, there is no way I will be able to pay the debt within the month. I have called friends to borrow money, but I am not nearly half way there and I am out of resources.
Is there any way to get these debts reduced? Is there any way to get an extended timeline since I have only become aware of these debts now? (the hospital portion I only became aware of because I phoned them) I have no idea what my rights are, and I am very afraid of giving information over the phone in case I am being scammed. How can I make sure that the money being withdrawn from my accounts will go towards paying the debt and that the debt will be clear?
Please, any and all advice/help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
You should not reveal your financial information over phone. You
You should not reveal your financial information over phone. You may make the payment via check or money order. You should also ask the CA to validate the debt mate. Don't pay a penny before the debt is validated.
You can contact the hospital and explain your situation to them. Contact the accounts department of the hospital. They may reduce the bill amount after hearing your case.
Did your provincial insurance plan cover any of these costs?? I
Did your provincial insurance plan cover any of these costs?? I know when I was in school in the US, my OHIP (Ontario) covered most of my major medical when I was hospitalized. My supplemental covered everything else. Or have things changed that much in 30 years....
thanks
for the advice, I will ask them to validate the debt. I told them that it seems kind of sketchy that they are asking me to give my info over the phone, and they said the other option is to pay online, and said they will email me the notice that they had mailed my previous address.
They called again today asking if I have any money for them, and I checked my email and have not yet received anything in writting from them.
I will also contact OHIP today, they apparently do not compensate fully, and just pay the equivalent that they would have paid for the same treatement in ontario (which is much less).
This is the website I was given by the lady on the phone for the collection agency, http://www.visionfinancialcorp.com/ and she said that if I feel unsafe giving my info over the phone I can pay at www.paybalance.com (which redirects me to http://www.visionfinancialcorp.com/1001125087/paynow.htm?) and this seems fairly sketchy as well.
The only reason I believe that I owe this debt is because the hospitals billing department said they had an issue processing my insurance and that the hospital bills separate from the doc, and the hospital will be sending it to a collection agency at the end of the month as well.
Does anyone know anything about that collection agency, are they legit? can i trust them?
What about your travel insurance? (Blue Cross Blue Shield I sus
What about your travel insurance? (Blue Cross Blue Shield I suspect) Did they not cover the difference?
My mother who lives north of Toronto was hospitalized in California this year. OHIP took forever to pay but her Blue Cross Blue Shield travel insurance covered everything else. Her out of pocket was less than $40US. Both took awhile to pay but they did pay.
Debt
No unfortunately the incident involved is an exception in the policy so the insurance company says they will not be covering any portion of the cost. I've gotten the hospital to put me on a payment plan that I can handle though, my current issue is just whether or not I can trust the collection agency. I'm going to sell some text books and borrow some money and I think I can arrange enough to pay everyone back in time.