DH and I once went through several sessions of marriage counseling. We paid a $40 co-pay each time, and the therapist always seemed completely at a loss when we asked how much our insurance would cover, or had covered (for claims already submitted). She would always say she would talk with her assistant and get back with us, but she was pretty sure that insurance had covered the services 100%. That didn't seem right to me, but I decided to wait it out. Then DH had a pretty sudden job change that required us to move out of state, and I had a medical emergency that required us to cancel our last session and we never rescheduled. I left a voicemail with the therapist and gave her our new address, and asked her to please send a bill once she had determined how much we owed for the sessions. I never received anything in the mail, and then four months later I got a voicemail asking for my mailing address, and wanting to discuss the bill, which was much higher than she had anticipated, and she wanted to see about whether we could work something out. Honestly, I kind of forgot about the voicemail, and she never called again. I wouldn't even know where to find her contact info to try and get back in touch at this point. I counted that as her own loss for not making sure to send a bill, follow up, etc. I don't feel guilty about paying - I hope she improves her business skills as a result.

I'd pay it, but given that they've delayed so long I think you'd be within your rights to ask to pay it in installments if coming up with the whole amount is too much of a stretch. In fact, I'd probably agree that a slight delay in payment on your end would be hard for them to challenge.

In the final analysis though, if you got the services then you're legally required to pay the bill.

Insurance claims have to be filed within a certain period, definitely a year, maybe 6 months.

I had a bill once that came outside that period and my insurance refused to pay it so I wrote the dr. a note explaining that and I was not going to pay the full amount just because they had screwed up so I told them I was offering to pay half to settle the bill. They cashed the check and I never heard from them again on it.

If you can't pay it right away, call the office and let them know you are paying $X now and will pay $X each month until your balance is paid in full.

I want to commend all of the posters who responded to this OP for responding so logically and unemotionally. Ive seen people get way bent out of shape here about a lot less!

Anonymous wrote:We no longer work with this group. They, therapists and admin staff, were very disorganized in general and the therapy turned out not to be helpful. They never billed us for the last month of services that we were there. Almost a year later a bill shows up. Should they be penalized for their disorganization? I'm inclined not to pay it.

Yes you owe the bill, especially if it comes within the year! Maybe they have ADD or some other executive fuction issue. Regardless of whether the therapy was useful or not is beside the point. Hopefully you stopped when it proved not usesful.

Should they be penalized for their disorganization?

They have been penalized for their disorganization. They have lost out on 11 months of income from the money they were due from services rendered. Which they are owed for. By you.

Anonymous wrote:I would pay if I received the service but honestly I would probably not be very prompt about it.

Heh. I like you

Really? Of course you pay the bill. Then again, you can ignore it and they can forward it to collections and ruin your credit.