dispute with a healthcare services provider

dispute with a healthcare services provider

justin1138@REMOVEnet.rev.net (Justin)	3/9/2005 10:24:51 PM
My mother-in-law (now deceased) was on private insurance and with it we purchased her a wheelchair. Half of it was paid for by us and the other half by her private insurance co.. My wife had made a deal with the healthcare equipment provider to pay $50/month for a while and then with what the private ins. paid it would be our chair after a year or so (because we knew her mother would need the chair the rest of her life). So we paid all this money for it over the year -- about $1000 (including what the private ins. paid). Her mother also got other equipment from this provider also and the last 6 months of her life her mother was on Medicare (switched over to Medicare from the private ins.). Her mother died a month ago, and the provider went and picked all the equipment up and later called us demanding we bring the wheelchair back. We stated that it was purchased and paid for fully, so we were keeping it. They said it was theirs and that "Medicare was renting the chair from us for your mother." So what happened was, when she went from private to Medicare, the healthcare equipment provider started charging Medicare for a chair we ALREADY OWNED! And now they want it back! Total ripoff. The woman at the health equipment place is VERY rude and condescending. They won't go back to look at the paperwork that was in place when my mother-in-law was on private insurance. She said "your mother-in-law was last on Medicare, so that's what we're going by, and the CHAIR IS OURS." Total scam. It's not even about the chair; it's the principle of the matter now. We paid for it and want to keep it. Any advice? We should have demanded a receipt after paying it off. We're at the mercy of these lying unethical con artists who conveniently can't find "any evidence that you paid us a penny." (We do have cancelled checks). ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----



Gerald Clough	3/11/2005 9:25:09 PM
Justin wrote: My mother-in-law (now deceased) was on private insurance and with it we purchased her a wheelchair. Half of it was paid for by us and the other half by her private insurance co.. My wife had made a deal with the healthcare equipment provider to pay $50/month for a while and then with what the private ins. paid it would be our chair after a year or so (because we knew her mother would need the chair the rest of her life). So we paid all this money for it over the year -- about $1000 (including what the private ins. paid). Her mother also got other equipment from this provider also and the last 6 months of her life her mother was on Medicare (switched over to Medicare from the private ins.). Her mother died a month ago, and the provider went and picked all the equipment up and later called us demanding we bring the wheelchair back. We stated that it was purchased and paid for fully, so we were keeping it. They said it was theirs and that "Medicare was renting the chair from us for your mother." So what happened was, when she went from private to Medicare, the healthcare equipment provider started charging Medicare for a chair we ALREADY OWNED! And now they want it back! Total ripoff. The woman at the health equipment place is VERY rude and condescending. They won't go back to look at the paperwork that was in place when my mother-in-law was on private insurance. She said "your mother-in-law was last on Medicare, so that's what we're going by, and the CHAIR IS OURS." Total scam. It's not even about the chair; it's the principle of the matter now. We paid for it and want to keep it. Any advice? We should have demanded a receipt after paying it off. We're at the mercy of these lying unethical con artists who conveniently can't find "any evidence that you paid us a penny." (We do have cancelled checks). Are you in Virginia? Try http://www.vaaaa.org/operation.html Or contact your state Attorney General's office for reference to the best medicare fraud complaint route. -- Gerald Clough "Nothing has any value, unless you know you can give it up."



Paul Cassel	3/11/2005 9:25:27 PM
Justin wrote: [made payments on a wheelchair he says were to buy it but supply company says they were rentals.] It's not even about the chair; it's the principle of the matter now. We paid for it and want to keep it. Any advice? We should have demanded a receipt after paying it off. We're at the mercy of these lying unethical con artists who conveniently can't find "any evidence that you paid us a penny." (We do have cancelled checks). OK, there is no magic here. What do you wish to happen? If you wish to prove the wheelchair is yours, I suppose you could take them to small claims court and then you'd need to subpoena insurance records to see if they support your claim. If things are as you understand them, you'll prevail. Is it worth it? I don't think so, but it's your call. OTOH, you can just keep the wheelchair and make them prove that it's theirs. This can get very nasty for you with them attacking your credit report, filing against you and what not. Even if you have an easily winnable case, it's probably not worth the bother to pursue it. I know it's VERY tough to walk away, but at least consider it. -paul ianal



"Timothy"	3/14/2005 5:46:48 PM
Paul Cassel wrote: Justin wrote: [made payments on a wheelchair he says were to buy it but supply company says they were rentals.] OK, there is no magic here. What do you wish to happen? If you wish to prove the wheelchair is yours, I suppose you could take them to small claims court and then you'd need to subpoena insurance records to see if they support your claim. If things are as you understand them, you'll prevail. Is it worth it? I don't think so, but it's your call. You might want to contact the Medicare people as well as the "private insurance" company who your mother-in-law had a policy with before she went on Medicare. It is possible that the supply company in fact owned the chair all along. Perhaps, you were simply making a copayment on it to go along with what the insurers were paying. You might want to get a lawyer, too, but of course legal bills could easily go over the $1000 cost of the chair. (And, the resale value of a used wheelchair would presumably be much less than the original sales price.)

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