hospital and doctors - delay of invoices

[acro68]

My wife incurred medical expenses a few weeks prior to filing, approx 70K. One of the bills was included in the Chapter 7 filing, approx 33K; however, the hospital and doctors are refraining to send any further invoices. What should I do, withdrawal and then refile chapter 7? Is there a 2-month wait for voluntary withdrawal in Illinois?

[2manybills]

Were the hospital and doctors included in your schedules? I would list them anyway and just statement, amount unknown. That way they are still on notice for the debt.

[acro68]

Only the one Hospital Bill. I am able to view the bills being negotiated with the insurance co. on line; however, there is insufficient information on the billing addresses of the doctors.

[2manybills]

If you filed with an attorney, I would have him include them, so that whatever balance is left after the insurance is paid, that will be included. It is much cheaper to amend your schedules, then it would be to reopen your case later. Some doctors don't even send a bill for months, so I would just include them and state, amount unknown.

[acro68]

Would the Trustee find this sufficient grounds for withdrawl? I am concerned that the bills will be intentionally delayed until after the BK.

[2manybills]

Are you filing pro se, or do you have an attorney? I would be more worried about withdrawing your petition and then filing again. As long as the debts were incurred pre-petition, then you don't have to include the exact amounts you owe, but you have to put the creditor on notice of your bankruptcy.

[acro68]

I filed pro se. I am trying to evaluate my options. I filed two weeks ago, and just recently became aware of the forum. My wife and I are considering withdrawing the petition and let a bk attorney handle it from here, including the list of creditors.

[DebtEnder]

The date the debt was incurred is what matters. When you get the bill does not. Ie the service was done before you filed. Put the hospital on notice and stop worrying. Also if you intend to be a no asset case most districts have case precedence stating even creditors(unsecured) otherwise not listed are still discharged.

[acro68]

Thanks!

[2manybills]

All you need to do is file an "amended" schedule listing those creditors even as I said before, amount owing "unknown". Just put them on notice. That is well worth the $25.00 that they will charge to file.

[AngelinaCat]

You need to amend your schedules and include any medical service providers that you and your wife utilized prior to the date you filed. You will not know the full amounts of the eventual bills, so put down a placeholder amount of $1.00. Both my husband and I had accidents that required medical attention, with a helicopter ride and emergency surgery for him. We had no idea what the eventual amounts would be, and this is what our attorney told us to do.

Everything was eventually discharged.

[tcreegan]

Hi acro,

The date of the service has to be before the date you file. Medical billing can be a nightmare, the doc has a separate bill but uses a billing company, the hospital sends separate bills for X-ray, ER, and then lumps them all together on another bill.

however, the hospital and doctors are refraining to send any further invoices. ....It is either incompetence, waiting until the fight w. insurance company is over, or they got a notice of the BK and don't want to violate the automatic stay.

Try to get them all on your petition, but if you don't you can send them a copy of your BK notice w/ case # and file date. I had lots of trouble finding out who had what bill where but once they got the BK notice I sent they were nice and cooperative.

Would the Trustee find this sufficient grounds for withdrawl?...the trustee would move to dismiss the case, but your medical bill mess is not a reason to dismiss. Report it as best you can, amend as necessary.

You don't want to withdraw your case, I think the wait time before refiling is 6 months. You don't need to withdraw to have an attorney jump onboard.

Good luck with everything, hope your wife is on the mend...

Tom in Colo

[SweetGeorgia]

I agree with what everyone else has said; get an attorney, probably don't need to withdraw, unsecured debt incurred before filing no-asset Chapter 7 will be discharged even if unlisted, hope your wife feels better!

I also had trouble getting some billing addresses, but if you have the corporation names you can use the registered agent address (likely available on your secretary of state's website). If it's just actual doctor names you have, the licensing website has addresses. I doubt they're delaying anything because of your filing. Medical billing just takes a long time.