My Wife Has Been Sent To Collections For A Duplicate Charge From A Healthcare Provider.

My wife received medical care in the amount of $971 for a hospital stay in 2023. We live in Wisconsin and service was provided at an out of network emergency room near our home. It's my understanding that the out of network part is irrelevant because it was after the No Surprises Act went into effect. At the time when she received service she had already met her max out of pocket for the year so our insurance company covered it in full.

The healthcare provider charged her twice for the same service. They mistakenly created a duplicate charge that of course our insurance company did not pay because they already paid it.

The bill for this duplicate charge arrived in the mail about 12 to 18 months after the service. She called our insurance company from 2023 and they confirmed that it was a duplicate charge. They sent an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) to the provider and we thought that would be the end of it.

The provider sent another bill, so she called our insurance company again and got the provider on the phone with her and they basically just said send us an EOB to show it was a duplicate and they would drop the charge. So both our insurance company and my wife sent the EOB again. The insurance company said they would elevate it to a higher up in the company to expedite it.

We received another bill and she called the insurance company again and was again assured it would be dealt with. I have no reason to believe the insurance company dropped the ball on this. It seems much more likely that the provider is failing to fix the problem despite being provided with what they asked for on multiple occasions from both the insurance company and my wife personally.

Our insurance company has documented all the calls she's made to them so I instructed her to contact them and fill them in and if we need to hire a lawyer we will want whatever records they have of our efforts to resolve this and proof it was a duplicate charge. I expect them to be cooperative as they have been very helpful when she has called them. Should we be concerned about them not helping? Do we need to be careful with our communications with them about this?

This morning she woke up to an alert that she has a debt sent to collections on her credit report. She is up in arms wanting to sue them. We actually declared bankruptcy at the end of 2023 and have been working hard to repair our credit so this is obviously extremely disheartening.

Any advice on how to handle this situation from here is greatly appreciated.

TLDR: My wife wrongfully had a duplicate charge sent to collections after numerous attempts at resolving the issue with the healthcare provider.