5 Things To Know about Medical Debt and Bill Collectors

Many of my personal injury clients tell me they would have never sought the help of a lawyer if the at-fault person (bad driver, building owner, negligent business) would have simply paid their medical bills.  Medical bills can quickly spiral out of control and it seems that there is no way to ever pay them off.   Thankfully personal injury lawyers and consumer lawyers can often help people with getting their medical bills paid off.  Attorneys may be able to get insurance coverage for the bills, force the negligent party pay the medical bills, or work with the medical provider to accept a reduced amount.   However, sometimes that is not possible, and the debt must be paid.  In that case, there are things you should know.  The National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) has published a great article that has valuable information for anyone that is dealing with medical debt. 

Below a few highlights from the article:

1. Pay Medical Debt Last: Don't ignore it, but you may want to pay off your other debt before medical debt.  This is due to the fact that it is on the lowest priority of debt.  Also, do not take out a loan or credit card to pay medical debt.   This is due to the fact medical debt often has little or no interest in it.  Credit cards and loans have interest, so you will pay more to pay off the original debt.
2. Debt Collectors Powers Are Limited:  Many medical providers will assign your debt to a debt collector.  These are the people that call to annoy and harass you into paying off the debt.  However, there bark is often bigger than their bite.   Medical Debt is unique in that credit reporting agencies will not include it in a credit report until it is over six months old. This is important because debt collectors will often tell people their credit will be trashed if they don't pay up immediately.   If debt collectors continue to call you or attempt to contact you, you also can send them a letter telling them to stop. Federal law prevents them from continuing to contact you after receiving that letter. 
3. Medical Debt is Often Not Reported to Credit Agencies:  Often, many medical providers do not report medical debt to the three major credit reporting agencies. However, debt collectors may.
4. You Can Still Go to the Emergency Room If You Owe the Hospital Money: Federal law (Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA)) prohibits hospitals from turning people away from the ER due to their inability to pay. 
5. You Might Be Able to Correct the Bills:  Medical bills can contain errors.  You can work with the medical provider to correct the mistake or get the bills covered by insurance.   

The article contains a lot of helpful additional information that you should read to help you understand your rights and obligations with medical debt.  If you have incurred medical debt as a result of another person injuring you call Ross Law LLC at 503.224.1658.  Jeremiah Ross represents people that have been injured by the negligence of another and consumers.  Please note the information in this article is for informational purposes only and the law is constantly changing.  DO NOT SOLELY RELY ON THIS POST.  SPEAK WITH A LAWYER to fully understand your rights and obligations on medical debt. This post could be considered attorney advertising. 

A Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help With Medical Providers

Roughly once a week someone takes the time to send a Thank You card to my office.  Many come from clients.  Some come from vendors.  Sometimes they come from medical providers.  This week I received a lovely card from a Chiropractor.  The Chiropractor had been the treatment provider for a car crash client in a case I was involved in.  The case went to trial and he testified on behalf of our client. A couple of weeks after the trial we had lunch to discuss the trial.  During the conversation, we also started to discuss how Oregon personal injury lawyers should be assisting their clients with medical providers.  Things like billing issues, referrals, and obtaining medical records were all topics of discussion.

Many of my Personal Injury clients already have a medical provider when they come to see me.  If that is the case then I do my best to help the provider with any insurance billing issues they may encounter.  This allows my client to focus on getting better and the provider can deal with my office that regularly interacts with insurance companies. 

My office can also work with a provider who is treating a client who had their personal injury protection benefits terminated by their insurance company.  There are various ways to do this, but often the medical provider is concerned about payment for future services, so it is my office's responsibility to assuage those concerns and do my best to force the insurance company to reinstate PIP medical benefits. 

Occasionally my personal injury clients will ask for a referral to a medical provider.  I do not have a common referral list, but there are some providers that I have told my clients to steer clear of.  At the end of the day, the client needs to be with a provider that they feel comfortable with.  

If you, or someone you know, has been injured by another and need a free case evaluation call Portland Oregon Personal Injury Attorney Jeremiah Ross at 503.224.1658.  At Ross Law LLC we do our best to help people injured in Car Crashes, Bus Crashes, Trucking Accidents, Bicycle crashes, Bike Crashes, Motorcycle Crashes, and dangerous premises cases.  Please remember this post, this blog, and website can be considered ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. 

Oregon Court Decision Helps Crime Victims Recover Losses

Many crime victims do not realize they have a right to recover restitution for their out of pocket losses.   Oregon Law allows crime victims to recover "economic damages" that were a result of the criminal's activity.  ORS 137.106(1).  This typically means that crime victims and survivors can recover out of pocket losses that were a result of the criminal's behavior.  Economic damages are typically hospital bills, surgery bills, mental health bills, property damage bills, and past lost wages.  Economic damages are not things like embarrassment,  pain, suffering, and humiliation.

There are different avenues for victims and survivors to recover damages for pain, suffering, humiliation, embarrassment, etc.  However these types of damages are not part of criminal restitution, and most victims and survivors will have to use the civil court to obtain full compensation for their harms and losses.  

However, the term "economic damages" is often disputed by defendants that do not want to pay victims for all of the harms and losses they cause.   Recently Oregon's Supreme Court clarified victim restitution issues with their ruling of State v. Ramos.  The Court noted that a defendant is responsible for all economic damages that are a result of the criminal activity.    The court addressed whether or not 1) that damages are limited to harms that result from reasonably foreseeable risks and 2) whether or not attorney fees and litigation costs are generally not recoverable as restitution unless authorized by statute or contract.  

The Ramos Court concluded,   "reasonable foreseeability is a limiting concept that applies to an award of economic damages under ORS 137.106."  What this means in layman's terms is that the economic damages must "result from" a defendant's criminal activity in the "but for" sense and must be a reasonably foreseeable result of the defendant's criminal activities.  The court also determined that in some cases that a victim or survivor's attorney fees and litigation costs may be recovered as part of criminal restitution.   This case is a good tool for prosecutors to assist victims and survivors obtaining restitution. 

If you or someone you know have are a crime victim and have medical bills, mental health bills, property bills, or have suffered harms, losses, embarrassment, humiliation, pain, or suffering as a result of another's conduct, please call Jeremiah Ross at 503.224.1658.  Please remember the law is constantly changing.  Call a lawyer or ROSS LAW instead of relying solely on this post or the law cited in this post.

Reimbursement for Transportation to Crash Related Medical Appointments?

Here in Oregon we are fortunate to have Personal Injury Protection Benefits, or "PIP" benefits.  PIP benefits are no fault auto insurance benefits that allow people that are in car crashes to receive up to $15,000.00 to cover crash related medical expenses.  (Click here for a more detailed explanation of all PIP benefits and limitations).   Although the law mandates Oregon Auto Insurers to provide PIP benefits, it is not always clear exactly what are crash related medical expenses.  More specifically, does an Oregon Auto Insurance policy provide benefits to reimburse a person to travel to medical appointments?  Oregon's Supreme Court recently said no.  PIP benefits do not include transpiration costs to receive medical benefits.  

This is a blow to injured people in Oregon that rely on these benefits, and especially rural Oregonians.   This is due to the fact that folks living in urban areas have easy access to medical care.  However, people living on the Oregon Coat, in Southern Oregon, Central Oregon and Eastern Oregon may have to travel hours to see a medical specialist and even stay in a hotel.   Unfortunately, Oregon's Court did not find that argument compelling.

The Oregon Supreme Court  addressed the issue of whether or not medical transportation is reimbursable under Oregon's PIP law, ORS 742.520 (1).  In Dowell v. Oregon Mutual Ins. Co. 361 Or 62 (2017),  the court analyzed the 2007 PIP statute which notes Oregon Auto Insurance Policies must have a provision that that covers:

"All reasonable and necessary expenses of medical, hospital, dental, surgical, ambulance and prosthetic services incurred within one year after the date of the person’s injury, but not more than $15,000 in the aggregate for all such expenses of the person.” ORS 742.524(1)(a)

It is important to note, the law has since changed to allow services for two years after the date of the person's injury.   However, that did not effect the court's analysis in this case.   The court determined ORS 742.524 did not intend expenses for ordinary transportation to receive medical treatment or to obtain medication .  Again this is not good news for injured Oregonians and we can only hope for a legislative fix.   

All hope is not lost though.  You may still be able to recover transportation costs to medical care from the at-fault driver.  If you or someone you know has questions about your PIP benefits please call Jeremiah Ross at 503.224.1658. Ross Law LLC is happy to give you a free telephonic case evaluation.    

Also, remember the law is always changing.   Please rely on the text of the Court's decision and not solely on this post. Also, remember to rely on the current statute as the legislature is constantly changing the laws.   Lastly, this post is not intended to be legal advice and is for informational purposes only.   This could also be considered legal advertising.