After the birth of my premature son, he was transported via American Medical Response to another hospital that would supply the care he needed. The ambulance service was contracted by the hospital where he was born.
A couple months after this occurred, I began receiving bills from AMR stating I owed over 2,000 and that they had no insurance for me on file. I was under the impression that the hospital had given them this information, but nevertheless, I contacted them and gave them the appropriate information.By the time they billed my insurance, all of the claims for my son had changed from my coverage to his own, so it went through HIS deductible, instead of mine (which I had already paid for). Had they billed correctly in the first place this would not have happened. However, I am a responsible person so I did not argue the point and called them to make payment arrangements.
Mind you, I had an emergency c-section and a premature child who was in NICU for 3 weeks, so I had several bills all coming in at once of various amounts (most of them in the thousands), so I was setting my initial payments low so that I could increase over time as things were paid off. NEVER did I not agree to pay anything, I simply told them what I could feasibly pay. All of the other medical providers worked with me in this regard.
Not AMR. They told me that their policy is that they can only spread the amount owed over a 12 month period, and that I would have to pay that monthly amount (which far exceeded my intended payment). I explained to them that I was trying to make payments to several facilities/doctors and that I intended to make payments responsibly, but that I could not pay the amount they requested. They said that if I did not make the correct payment amount, they would send my account to collections. I told them I could only pay what I had for the time being and subsequently made two payments. They accepted the payments and each time they sent a letter stating I needed to contact them to make payment arrangements or pay in full, otherwise I would be sent to collections.
After two phone calls, trying to make some arrangement with them about the payment amount, I was told I could pay a less amount than originally stated, but it was still more than I had at the moment. I asked for two more months to pay at the lower amount and then I would begin the new payment they offered. They said I could not do that. So, I was sent a precollections letter. This time, fuming, I called and I told them that I have good credit and don't want it ruined because of a greedy ambulance service. The lady I spoke with was very argumentative and interrupted me several times when I tried to explain the situation. She then told me that the new payment I was offered was WITH INTEREST and that would spread it out over 24 mos. NO ONE mentioned previously that the lower payment included interest. Not ONE of my other providers is charging me interest or threatening collections, as long as I make a payment.
I told her that there is no way I'm going to give them interest on top of the ridiculous amount they charged to begin with (they are a private company and charge outrageous fees) and that I would refuse to ever use their service again. I agreed to the high payment amount originally requested, only to save my credit, and I really don't know how I'm going to pay it along with everyone else. I am enraged that a company that is supposed to "help" people and save lives, is so GREEDY when it comes to their billing process. I am an honest and responsible individual and do not forgo my debts. If you ever HAVE to use this company, BEWARE! If you have a choice, do not use them. They have very bad billing practices, will come at you for payment at all costs and are extremely unfriendly and uncompassionate.
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