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Credit repair - VERY hi hospital bill but at time covered by VA - hospital did not chg va?

11/2006 taken by ambulance to nearest facility. The va facility (san diego) was far away and at the time I was not capable of telling the ambulance drivers that I was a vet. I met with a billing representative during my hospital stay, and informed her that I had VA coverage. She said that was all she needed to know and that they would bill the VA. Also she felt due to my condition, the bill would be approved. Fast forward to now and I have an outrageously large bill from the Hospital (well collection agency now). I haven't pulled a credit report in forever..didn't think I needed to..lesson learned. Should I contact the VA first to see if they will accept the bill from the collection agency? Can I just ask the collection agency to bill the VA directly? I really need guidance. This is the only major debt I have, but it's enough to keep me from qualifying for anything worthwhile. Please Help.

I agree with the other posters, get involved.

Since it has been a short time (since 11/06) you would still have time to get your VA insurance to pay the original medical provider. Do not wait, if you wait to long you may wait yourself out of being covered on that bill.
Do not speak with the collection agency about the account.

Contact the VA and find out if you are covered for going to that hospital. If you are covered, find out why it was not paid. If the VA tells you that you are covered and why it wasn't paid, request that they send you that information in writing.

Take your VA insurance information and go in person to the hospital. Make them deal with the VA.

If the VA does cover that hospital, that hospital can recover the debt from the collection agency and submit the bill to the VA.

If the VA does not cover that hospital, that hospital can still recover the debt from the collection agency and deal with you.

The collection agency "cannot" submit a bill to the VA.

There are many programs that will help you pay the bill if it is not covered by insurance. The hospitals have lists of those programs and should be able to find one that will help pay.

You might also click on the link I've provided. Do some reading in the Medical Forum about using HIPAA in dealing with that hospital. Source(s): http://creditboards.com

Something does not sound right. I'm a vet too but I don't think I can just say "I'm a vet" and the VA would cover it. If this has already gone to a collection agency then chances are the hospital no longer has anything to do with it as they have most likely sold off the debt to this collection company. That also means the VA probably won't touch it now even if they could have covered it. The collection agecy will stil continue to harrass you for the debt. Did you make any attempt to reconcile with the VA before it got this far?
I'm sure you spoke with someone in billing at the hospital and told them they should be billing the VA. What was the result of that conversation?

You obviously need to get into the middle of this and talk with the hospital and the VA and do some of the leg work for them. Find out who the contact person at the VA is that the billing person at the hospital should call.

You can't just sit back and wring your hands. You need to get involved and make some phone calls. Given the amount of money involved a few hours of your time spent on the phone will be well worth it.
You need to go in - in person- and speak with the hospital administrator about this. They should have filed with VA and it sounds like they dropped the ball. They can pull that account back from collections.