Help with a Bill Collector

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A typical ambulance will charge you $1000+ per person in the US and the Insurance companies will not pay. We had a situation several years ago where my wife and I were in an accident and were transported to the hospital. Same ambulance. They charged us $1000 EACH.

My FIL had to pay $1000 to be transported from an urgent care facility to ER (Reston area - 10 minute ride).

What did we do? In the first case, we tried arguing with the insurance company for months and eventually got them to pay one of the $1000 bills. We ended up paying the other.

In the second case, we asked them to take a hike since the bill was in my FIL's name and he was visiting from another country.

In your case, if the bill is in your son's name, ask them to take a hike. They will keep calling you for a while, maybe go to court and get a judgment on your son but that will eventually fall away after 7 years.

I'm not sure I understand this. He doesn't have to pay because he's from another country?

[Anonymous]

VERY similar! This is OP. : )

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't pay anything. I would expect that AMEX gave you advice in good faith. If MedX wants to sue you, let them. Suing you doesn't mean they're right. They're hoping you grow sick of them and pay. I'd ignore them until a damn summons was in my hands, at the very least, maybe even after that.

[Anonymous]

Ignore it. They won't litigate over $1000 and send collection calls to voice mail. They will go away after a while once they realize they are not getting anywhere and move on to the next victim.

[Anonymous]

You may eventually get bills from collection agents but I would ignore them. Complete ripoff and have been there done that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A typical ambulance will charge you $1000+ per person in the US and the Insurance companies will not pay. We had a situation several years ago where my wife and I were in an accident and were transported to the hospital. Same ambulance. They charged us $1000 EACH.

My FIL had to pay $1000 to be transported from an urgent care facility to ER (Reston area - 10 minute ride).

What did we do? In the first case, we tried arguing with the insurance company for months and eventually got them to pay one of the $1000 bills. We ended up paying the other.

In the second case, we asked them to take a hike since the bill was in my FIL's name and he was visiting from another country.

In your case, if the bill is in your son's name, ask them to take a hike. They will keep calling you for a while, maybe go to court and get a judgment on your son but that will eventually fall away after 7 years.

I'm not sure I understand this. He doesn't have to pay because he's from another country?

He cannot afford to pay any bills. We pay his. In this case, given the asshole nature of the system that takes advantage of people, we chose not to pay that bill. The company at best can print the bills and wipe their a**es with it. He doesn't have credit history in this country so not much they can do there..

Had it been more reasonable (along the lines of $2 - 300), I'd gladly pay. The medical industry in this country is nothing short of a legal mafia with the lawmakers supporting it in every way. I try to do my part in sticking it to them when I can.

[Anonymous]

Do what they told you and IGNORE them.
Block them from your email. Don’t answer the phone. Stop talking to them and offering them $200 for gosh sakes!

If you were stupid enough to give them your cell phone # block them on it.

I find it strange that you sent your wife and child off in a van - in Mexico?? Really?
You thought that that was totally safe? Next time they won’t be returning them until you pay the $1000 in cash - count on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What doesn't sound legit? The name of the company is MedEx Global. So let's say it's legit? Do I ignore them based on what Amex is saying?

No one here is going to be able to give you an answer. You signed an agreement down in Cancun that is possibly (probably) governed by Cancun law. Whether they will bother to sue you down there is one question, whether the contract as written is enforceable down there is another question and the most important question is whether they will be able (and willing) to obtain and enforce a judgment against you here in the states. That would be a ton of work to go through for a $1K bill.

They can’t ‘sue him’ in Cancun. He’s covered by AnerX- they would be the ones being sued and they would not be successful.
Just ignore them OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A typical ambulance will charge you $1000+ per person in the US and the Insurance companies will not pay. We had a situation several years ago where my wife and I were in an accident and were transported to the hospital. Same ambulance. They charged us $1000 EACH.

My FIL had to pay $1000 to be transported from an urgent care facility to ER (Reston area - 10 minute ride).

What did we do? In the first case, we tried arguing with the insurance company for months and eventually got them to pay one of the $1000 bills. We ended up paying the other.

In the second case, we asked them to take a hike since the bill was in my FIL's name and he was visiting from another country.

In your case, if the bill is in your son's name, ask them to take a hike. They will keep calling you for a while, maybe go to court and get a judgment on your son but that will eventually fall away after 7 years.

Going to urgent care for anything but an earache is always a mistake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A typical ambulance will charge you $1000+ per person in the US and the Insurance companies will not pay. We had a situation several years ago where my wife and I were in an accident and were transported to the hospital. Same ambulance. They charged us $1000 EACH.

My FIL had to pay $1000 to be transported from an urgent care facility to ER (Reston area - 10 minute ride).

What did we do? In the first case, we tried arguing with the insurance company for months and eventually got them to pay one of the $1000 bills. We ended up paying the other.

In the second case, we asked them to take a hike since the bill was in my FIL's name and he was visiting from another country.

In your case, if the bill is in your son's name, ask them to take a hike. They will keep calling you for a while, maybe go to court and get a judgment on your son but that will eventually fall away after 7 years.

I'm not sure I understand this. He doesn't have to pay because he's from another country?

He cannot afford to pay any bills. We pay his. In this case, given the asshole nature of the system that takes advantage of people, we chose not to pay that bill. The company at best can print the bills and wipe their a**es with it. He doesn't have credit history in this country so not much they can do there..

Had it been more reasonable (along the lines of $2 - 300), I'd gladly pay. The medical industry in this country is nothing short of a legal mafia with the lawmakers supporting it in every way. I try to do my part in sticking it to them when I can.

Well that’s cool. You know all that does is raise the cost for the rest of us, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A typical ambulance will charge you $1000+ per person in the US and the Insurance companies will not pay. We had a situation several years ago where my wife and I were in an accident and were transported to the hospital. Same ambulance. They charged us $1000 EACH.

My FIL had to pay $1000 to be transported from an urgent care facility to ER (Reston area - 10 minute ride).

What did we do? In the first case, we tried arguing with the insurance company for months and eventually got them to pay one of the $1000 bills. We ended up paying the other.

In the second case, we asked them to take a hike since the bill was in my FIL's name and he was visiting from another country.

In your case, if the bill is in your son's name, ask them to take a hike. They will keep calling you for a while, maybe go to court and get a judgment on your son but that will eventually fall away after 7 years.

I'm not sure I understand this. He doesn't have to pay because he's from another country?

He cannot afford to pay any bills. We pay his. In this case, given the asshole nature of the system that takes advantage of people, we chose not to pay that bill. The company at best can print the bills and wipe their a**es with it. He doesn't have credit history in this country so not much they can do there..

Had it been more reasonable (along the lines of $2 - 300), I'd gladly pay. The medical industry in this country is nothing short of a legal mafia with the lawmakers supporting it in every way. I try to do my part in sticking it to them when I can.

Well that’s cool. You know all that does is raise the cost for the rest of us, right?

No it doesn’t. They purposely charge 2-3 times what they expect to get to try to milk the insurance company & then they scale it back after insurance goes through. It’s all a game. They should have accepted the $200.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A typical ambulance will charge you $1000+ per person in the US and the Insurance companies will not pay. We had a situation several years ago where my wife and I were in an accident and were transported to the hospital. Same ambulance. They charged us $1000 EACH.

My FIL had to pay $1000 to be transported from an urgent care facility to ER (Reston area - 10 minute ride).

What did we do? In the first case, we tried arguing with the insurance company for months and eventually got them to pay one of the $1000 bills. We ended up paying the other.

In the second case, we asked them to take a hike since the bill was in my FIL's name and he was visiting from another country.

In your case, if the bill is in your son's name, ask them to take a hike. They will keep calling you for a while, maybe go to court and get a judgment on your son but that will eventually fall away after 7 years.

I'm not sure I understand this. He doesn't have to pay because he's from another country?

He cannot afford to pay any bills. We pay his. In this case, given the asshole nature of the system that takes advantage of people, we chose not to pay that bill. The company at best can print the bills and wipe their a**es with it. He doesn't have credit history in this country so not much they can do there..

Had it been more reasonable (along the lines of $2 - 300), I'd gladly pay. The medical industry in this country is nothing short of a legal mafia with the lawmakers supporting it in every way. I try to do my part in sticking it to them when I can.

Well that’s cool. You know all that does is raise the cost for the rest of us, right?

That's what is called a "factoid" - something that's considered true but is really not.

Companies typically price their services to extract from the buyer what they can get away with. The medical industry uses legislation to strengthen this practice (e.g. Medicare is prohibited by law to negotiate drug prices, yet the GSA will negotiate to death when it comes to procuring services to clean toilets in their buildings). This is just one such instance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What doesn't sound legit? The name of the company is MedEx Global. So let's say it's legit? Do I ignore them based on what Amex is saying?

No one here is going to be able to give you an answer. You signed an agreement down in Cancun that is possibly (probably) governed by Cancun law. Whether they will bother to sue you down there is one question, whether the contract as written is enforceable down there is another question and the most important question is whether they will be able (and willing) to obtain and enforce a judgment against you here in the states. That would be a ton of work to go through for a $1K bill.

They can’t ‘sue him’ in Cancun. He’s covered by AnerX- they would be the ones being sued and they would not be successful.
Just ignore them OP.

PP here and that is incorrect. Just because OP used a credit card as a form of payment does not absolve OP of the responsibility for paying the bill so the service provider can still sue OP down in Cancun although, as I noted above, they probably will not do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What doesn't sound legit? The name of the company is MedEx Global. So let's say it's legit? Do I ignore them based on what Amex is saying?

No one here is going to be able to give you an answer. You signed an agreement down in Cancun that is possibly (probably) governed by Cancun law. Whether they will bother to sue you down there is one question, whether the contract as written is enforceable down there is another question and the most important question is whether they will be able (and willing) to obtain and enforce a judgment against you here in the states. That would be a ton of work to go through for a $1K bill.

They can’t ‘sue him’ in Cancun. He’s covered by AnerX- they would be the ones being sued and they would not be successful.
Just ignore them OP.

PP here and that is incorrect. Just because OP used a credit card as a form of payment does not absolve OP of the responsibility for paying the bill so the service provider can still sue OP down in Cancun although, as I noted above, they probably will not do so.

Depends on the company that provided the service, their terms or contract (fine print that says you will pay and if not it will go to court in a certain jurisdiction, etc). Assuming that most people that frequent that resort are americans, the company that provided the ambulance service may also be american with fine print that says all disputes will be resolved in a US state. They can sue and get a judgment against your son. However, this will stay on his credit for 7 years and they fall off. More than likely, he will not need to use his credit to buy a house or soemthing major during that time.

[Anonymous]

I cannot believe you didn’t ask how much the van would cost OP! I would have been asking “how much” every step of the way, and certainly before signing something. You were had, big time and over an earache! Would have been cheaper to just delay your flight a day.