Medical Debt is a Financial problem

A large portion of my debt collection practice is made up of the collection of past due medical bills. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the people I end up suing for past due medical bills are not the large numbers of uninsured about which congress is constantly concerned. They are people who actually have health care insurance, but their insurance has denied the claim or failed to pay. Despite any number of modern myths, this is the bottom line everywhere in the United States when you go to the doctor's office, you will be asked to sign a Patient Financial Responsibility document, which in layman's terms says you are responsible for your own bill whether you have insurance or not.

When you go to the doctor, the doctor provides you services and you are responsible for paying for those services. You may have a contract of insurance, but that is a contract between you, as the insured, and the insurance company. It is not a contractual relationship between the doctor and the insurance company. The doctor's office files your insurance claim as a courtesy to you. Even your policy of medical insurance will state that you, and not your doctor's office, are responsible for filing the claim. So the first great truth that every patient must understand in today's modern world is that they are first and foremost responsible for payment of the doctor and hospital bills, even if they have insurance.