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Back in April 2018 my wife had surgery. The surgery was covered by Tricare as I was in the military at the time.
Today we just received a bill for the surgery for about 400 dollars. It doesnt say what it is for, I am going to call them about that part and get an itemized bill.
My question though, is how long after surgery can a hospital send you a bill? This happened in NC and we are now in FL. From what I can find there is a 3 year period in North Carolina for bills to be collected. Can anyone confirm that?
It does look like after a 3 year period, if no partial payment was made during that time, there can be no lawsuit to collect the debt. I would check with an attorney to be certain. If you owe the debt, perhaps you could just negotiate with the hospital for a reduced amount and have them sign off as payment in full.
It does look like after a 3 year period, if no partial payment was made during that time, there can be no lawsuit to collect the debt. I would check with an attorney to be certain. If you owe the debt, perhaps you could just negotiate with the hospital for a reduced amount and have them sign off as payment in full.
That is what I am thinking. Evidently Tricare is telling the hospital that we owed a co pay for the surgery. Which is strange because we were never told that and in 15 years of using Tricare never had one. After doing some more reading it looks like the debt can still go on your credit, you just cant legally be sued. I say legally because you can still be sued, however, when you respond to the lawsuit if you show its been over 3 years it will automatically be dropped. However, if they do sue you and you dont respond you can be given a default judgement and still have to pay.
That is what I am thinking. Evidently Tricare is telling the hospital that we owed a co pay for the surgery. Which is strange because we were never told that and in 15 years of using Tricare never had one. After doing some more reading it looks like the debt can still go on your credit, you just cant legally be sued. I say legally because you can still be sued, however, when you respond to the lawsuit if you show its been over 3 years it will automatically be dropped. However, if they do sue you and you dont respond you can be given a default judgement and still have to pay.
This is true. If you are sued, i.e., if you are served with a summons and complaint, you must respond within the time frame indicated on the summons or you may lose by default.
My question though, is how long after surgery can a hospital send you a bill? This happened in NC and we are now in FL. From what I can find there is a 3 year period in North Carolina for bills to be collected. Can anyone confirm that?
You need to double check with Tricare as the U.S. Code basically removes Tricare from adherence to State laws. It operates as a federal program. It's possible they allow providers to bill years later. There is also some provisions about military moves that tolls statutes of limitation. So, if you moved within a certain period of time after the procedures and wasn't yet billed, that pre-move time may not count towards how long you may still be responsible for payment.
I don't know about Tricare, but just recently I received a bill from 2016 for an out-of-network anesthesiologist they snuck in for my surgery. I'm ignoring it. What a bunch of BS.
Ironically enough, we just found out that the dr that did the surgery messed somethings up during the surgery. She is at another Dr right now and she asked him about what could be done. He stated that normally he would tell her to talk to the original DR about fixing it for cheap or free since they messed it up, since it would be cheaper for her to go back to NC for it. If that didnt work, he then said that he would normally advise her that she might talk to a lawyer. Unfortunately, in this part the statute of limitations has passed as it is 5 years ago.
I say its ironic because there is a statute of limitations on when a Dr makes a mistake but if you owe the Dr, they can still harass you for the money.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Check with the state where the surgery took place. Here in Washington, all medical bills must be rendered within 12 months of the service. In Florida, however, it's 5 years.
Check with the state where the surgery took place. Here in Washington, all medical bills must be rendered within 12 months of the service. In Florida, however, it's 5 years.
In NC its 3 years. You can still be sued for nonpayment and if you dont reply to the lawsuit the courts can give them a default ruling.
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