I received the first bill for services rendered 13 months after the insurance paid. Do I owe the balance?

I had a procedure on 5/30/07. The provider billed the insurance on 7/10/07 and received payment. My EOB told me how much was paid and that I might owe the provider $188.20. I never received a bill from the provider. On 8/04/08, 13 months after insurance payment, the provider sends me a bill for the 188.20 requiring payment and the aging on the bill is 120 days. When discussing this with the provider's office, they said the their previous billing company failed to send the bill so they brought it back 'in-house'. I feel this is untimely billing practices and I shouldn't have to pay it. Any advice on this would be appreciated.

Thanks

Wendy S	Yes, you do owe it, and you need to pay it. I always like it when providers take a long time to send a bill. They're giving me an interest-free loan! Try asking the provider to give you a break on the bill - will they settle for $100? You can also ask if they'll take payments. And they should not be charging you interest as 120 days late, or reporting that to any agency. THEY are the ones that failed to bill you. Best of luck!

mbrcatz	Yes, you still owe it. There's no law anywhere, that says you don't have to pay a bill because you didn't get it in a particular period of time. They'll send it through collections and garnish your wages if you don't pay.

sarah314	Of course you still owe the money. You received the services, and your share of the cost was $188.20. The provider has every right to try to collect it from you. There is no statue of limitations on trying to collect money that you actually owe to them for services that you actually received.

corgi1922	You still owe. If you don't pay they will send you to collections. Just pay it.

muneepenee	yu stil oe munee, no matter how late the bill is. Its amazing how long sum medikal bills take. 1-2 yeers is almost kommon.