On 8/28/2017 I was bitten by a neighbor's dog. The bite didn’t require stitches, so I went to my doctor on 8/29 to just get it checked out. That was the only visit and treatment I ever received for the dog bite. Since I had Medicare that was who the doctor's office charged for the visit. My daughter had a lawyer on retainer and suggested I file a claim. The lawyer was able to get a judgement for me and retained $235.00 for Medicare. The money sat in the account for several years. I called and asked had it been taken care of and was told after several calls, that they would call me when things were settled. Fast forward, I start receiving threatening letters from Medicare saying I owe them over $3,000.00. With an attachment of over 20 pages of charges they said are related to the dog bite. The charges included knee surgery, visits to a Dr. I see monthly and had been seeing since before the dog bite. I call my lawyer and leave a message that it’s been way over 3 years since this happened and he needs to get his behind in gear and take care of this. His reply was a letter saying that he was no longer my attorney and that he took my suggestion as a threat and was going to call the sheriff on me. He still has the $235.00 in addition to the percentage he collected. Then Medicare comes for me telling me that I owe this $3,000+ and they are going to be taking 15% of my social security check and charging interest as well. I called TOP, Coast Professionals (who make the debt calls) and told them that there was ONLY 1 visit related to the bite. She told me I could send a copy of the billing for the bite and they could get the record adjusted. I got that, called to say I was sending it, she then said that I would also have to get letters from all the other 70+ service providers saying they hadn’t treated me for the dog bite. I spoke with a gentleman named Ken at another number I called who agreed with me saying that my real financial liability was only $90.00. He was at NGHP. But that I would have to talk to Coast Professionals. He said I should get my money back but he couldn’t say when that might be. I don’t know the motivation of the person making out the report for me that day. They had the ICD codes they knew what was what. But here I sit having sold my jewelry just trying to pay my bills. I don’t have much left to sell my wedding ring and engagement ring are gone. I have a few gold chains left. I’m afraid to pawn my car. I couldn’t pay it back and I’d lose my car too. I don’t know if you can help me but maybe the people who are reading this will be forewarned to just pay the bill don’t wait for Medicare to call one day. The biggest thing in all of this is why that person at Medicare put together a recovery summary they knew was wrong, and I’m afraid of when the bills come and I don’t have anything left to sell.
"I call my lawyer and leave a message that it’s been way over 3 years since this happened and he needs to get his behind in gear and take care of this. His reply was a letter saying that he was no longer my attorney and that he took my suggestion as a threat and was going to call the sheriff on me."
I do understand your frustration, however, this is not a good way to do business, as evidenced by your attorney dropping you. You blame others, and are disrespectful and rude. I suggest that you write a few sentences of apology to your former attorney-without begging to hire him back.
You come across as a victim. I am telling you this so that you will go for some help, maybe to a therapist.
Thanks for reaching out, as desperate as you sound, that was a first step.
Can't finish the post I started b/c of glitches in the system, truncating some paragraphs and totally confusing what I've written. This is irritating. What I wrote has become a jigsaw puzzle.
Maybe the system here will work long enough for me to say that in all the years I worked in law, I've never experienced a situation in which the damage compensation was handled in the manner it was.
It makes no sense; nothing about this thread does, including the handling of the claim, the failure to obtain proper documentation (Stip & Order of Dismissal), a suit on limited grounds for action, a plaintiff attorney on retainer... something is very much amiss from this thread and explanations are required before ANY appropriate response can be posted.
I give up though; the system is fighting me today and I can't get a reasonable post made w/o the system truncating parts and moving them to other parts.