My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Pennsylvania
This matter involves a hospital in Pennsylvania (where my daughter goes to school). We live in NY. The hospital's billing/internal collections agent is in NJ.
I have an unreasonable bill from a hospital for outpatient lab services. Although they are an in-network provider, and my wife was assured by the insurance company that going to them would be just like going to the local LabCorp, the bill they ended up presenting was 24 times the bill for identical services from LabCorp. From my perspective, this is like $30 Tylenol tablets -- and we did everything we could to make sure we wouldn't end up in a situation like this, beforehand!
I've been disputing and trying to resolve the bill for ~8 months. Finally heard from their internal collections that their counter my to settlement offer was a 20% reduction -- the same as automatic reduction I was offered, and rejected, ~6 months ago, when the matter escalated to internal collections. Naturally, I'm not accepting it.
I'm sure I can eventually resolve this matter at an acceptable cost after it escalates to an external collections agent, but I'd like to take charge and deal with it sooner than later (and avoid the hassle of having to clear my daughter's credit report).
So what I want to know is:
Can I sue them in small claims court (Pennsylvania) to challenge this alleged debt, and if so, just what is the cause of action/claim I would state?
(The amount is small enough, from their perspective, that I'm pretty sure they will not be prepared to defend the debt, and so will agree to a reasonable settlement -- or even just dismiss the debt entirely -- if faced with legal action they need to defend.)
Thanks for any insight you can provide.
This matter involves a hospital in Pennsylvania (where my daughter goes to school). We live in NY. The hospital's billing/internal collections agent is in NJ.
I have an unreasonable bill from a hospital for outpatient lab services. Although they are an in-network provider, and my wife was assured by the insurance company that going to them would be just like going to the local LabCorp, the bill they ended up presenting was 24 times the bill for identical services from LabCorp. From my perspective, this is like $30 Tylenol tablets -- and we did everything we could to make sure we wouldn't end up in a situation like this, beforehand!
I've been disputing and trying to resolve the bill for ~8 months. Finally heard from their internal collections that their counter my to settlement offer was a 20% reduction -- the same as automatic reduction I was offered, and rejected, ~6 months ago, when the matter escalated to internal collections. Naturally, I'm not accepting it.
I'm sure I can eventually resolve this matter at an acceptable cost after it escalates to an external collections agent, but I'd like to take charge and deal with it sooner than later (and avoid the hassle of having to clear my daughter's credit report).
So what I want to know is:
Can I sue them in small claims court (Pennsylvania) to challenge this alleged debt, and if so, just what is the cause of action/claim I would state?
(The amount is small enough, from their perspective, that I'm pretty sure they will not be prepared to defend the debt, and so will agree to a reasonable settlement -- or even just dismiss the debt entirely -- if faced with legal action they need to defend.)
Thanks for any insight you can provide.
Disputing Debts: Can I Sue a Hospital in Small Claims Court Over an Inflated Bill (Pennsylvania)
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