Seek Perspective on DSHS Hospital Bill

September 17, 2024 2:48 PM

My sibling has been disabled for decades. She receives disability social security. A couple of years ago, her doctor made a medical error that injured her, and she had to be hospitalized for months. DSHS is now sending a bill. Should the bill be paid, or should it be ignored?

My siblings and I pored through all of my disabled sibling's medical records and created a document that we presented to the agency that was the employer of the offending doctor. That doctor no longer works for that agency, presumably because that doctor was dismissed. We did not sue for malpractice because the doctor's malpractice insurance would have paid the financial penalty and the doctor would have been able to continue to practice. We did not want money, we just wanted to doctor to no longer be allowed to practice. Also, we did not want to put our disabled sibling through the stress of dealing with a lawsuit.

I have financial power of attorney for my disabled sibling. Last month, I received a bill for about $3000 from DSHS to reimburse the state hospital where my sister was treated. I received another one today. I assume I will continue to receive them monthly into infinity until/unless the bill is paid. The bill is addressed to: SageTrail, POA for "Disabled Sibling". Why they are sending it to me, I do not know; I am not financially responsible for my sister.

The bill says, "We cannot seize Social Security funds to collect this bill. You or your payee can use Social Security funds to make voluntary payments if you wish." I have financial power of attorney, but I am not my sibling's guardian nor am I my sibling's payee. My sibling is legally their own payee. My sibling's only income is SSA and SSI, and all but $120 of sibling's social security per month goes toward paying for room and board at the adult family home where sibling lives. I don't know how sibling could be expected to buy the things a person needs to buy over and above rent and food, and yet still pay a $3000 reimbursement to a state hospital, when they only have $120 per month left over after paying room and board.

I do not know why DSHS is sending this bill to me when I am not my sibling's payee and my sibling does not live at my address. I've tried twice to contact DSHS via the phone number on the bill. I left messages both times, and was told they would call back within a few days, but they did not call back. I also contacted sibling's DSHS case manager, who sent my inquiry to their financial specialist, but the financial specialist never contacted me.

Disabled sibling has a Special Needs Trust fund of $50,000 that my parents left to her upon their death. The purpose of Special Needs Trusts like this is to make the life of the disabled person more pleasant. The money cannot be used for food and clothing, nor housing. Instead, it is for things like going to a theater play or getting a nicer pair of eyeglass frames than Medicaid would pay for, etc.

I could pay the $3000 bill using Special Needs Trust money. Or I could continue to receive a bill from DSHS every single month for the next (if my sibling is lucky) 30 years, and just ignore the bill each month. (By the way, included in with the bill is an remittance envelope. Yes, the only option to pay DSHS is with a paper check, circa 1955 ... God bless the USA.)

What would you do? Would you pay the bill or would you ignore the bill? (Ethics is one consideration.)

posted by SageTrail to Law & Government (14 answers total)

Response by poster: edit: Special Needs Trust money can be used to purchase clothing - just not food or housing.
posted by SageTrail at 2:52 PM on September 17, 2024

I would continue to try and contact DSHS. You have a right to dispute this bill if you do not believe it is actually valid. They should be able to make arrangements for alternative payment or waiver of the amount you owe, or other things.

I would not pay at the moment but continue to contact everyone you can.
posted by Alensin at 2:54 PM on September 17, 2024

I would not pay but I would also not ignore it. Unfortunately, the most prudent course of action is escalation and dispute of the bill.
posted by hepta at 2:59 PM on September 17, 2024 [6 favorites]

I'd look up the number for the org and double check the one in the letter- sometimes a different number gets you through quicker.
posted by freethefeet at 4:06 PM on September 17, 2024 [1 favorite]

IANAL and I realize this is not a Medicare matter. It just strikes me that every time I go to the doctor under Medicare they ask me if what I am being treated for is the result of negligence on the part of someone else. In your case it would seem (???) that the answer is yes, the doctor who made the medical mistake. But yes, I realize, what makes sense is often not true.
posted by forthright at 4:54 PM on September 17, 2024 [1 favorite]

This may not be the correct answer but when my indigent sibling had a big medical bill, the way we got around this was by paying a negligible amount -- I think it was $1 or maybe $5 per month -- for years, until they finally stopped sending the bill. However, they never hassled her, as long as some payment was being made.
posted by BlahLaLa at 5:10 PM on September 17, 2024 [1 favorite]

If it were me, I'd send a dispute of the charges via letter (and save a copy). That way you have a paper trail. Just something like, "I have not the representative payee for sibling and have no financial authority over her property. She does not have the money to pay this bill." And then see what happens and decide next steps from there.

I'm not sure the other doctor's mistake comes into play here at all, especially if there's no legal record. (I mean, I get that it does in the "we shouldn't have to pay this" column, but the hospital's unlikely to care much.)
posted by lapis at 6:22 PM on September 17, 2024 [1 favorite]

Consider consulting with an attorney that specializes in these matters.
posted by slateyness at 6:59 PM on September 17, 2024 [1 favorite]

"This may not be the correct answer but when my indigent sibling had a big medical bill, the way we got around this was by paying a negligible amount -- I think it was $1 or maybe $5 per month -- for years, until they finally stopped sending the bill."

Never pay anything on a debt that you're disputing the validity of. That's seen as acknowledging that it's your debt and also resets the age of the debt on your credit report so that it takes longer to drop off.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:11 PM on September 17, 2024 [3 favorites]

I have financial power of attorney for my disabled sibling. Last month, I received a bill for about $3000 from DSHS to reimburse the state hospital where my sister was treated. I received another one today. I assume I will continue to receive them monthly into infinity until/unless the bill is paid. The bill is addressed to: SageTrail, POA for "Disabled Sibling". Why they are sending it to me, I do not know; I am not financially responsible for my sister.

If you have financial power of attorney you are responsible for handling your sister's bills and mishandling them can have legal ramifications for you as well as your sister.
posted by srboisvert at 5:13 AM on September 18, 2024 [2 favorites]

This sounds well worth some time and money for an attorney to walk you through this situation and what rights and responsibilities both you and your sister have here. And to be really, really sure you understand exactly what your financial power of attorney means.
posted by Stacey at 6:46 AM on September 18, 2024 [1 favorite]

If you have financial power of attorney you are responsible for handling your sister's bills

This is not true. Power of attorney is the authority to act on someone else's behalf not the responsibility to do so. That would be some kind of guardianship which the op says they don't have. Of course if you DO act, that is the same as your sister acting and can mess her up the same as if she had done it (e.g. acknowledging the debt by paying a negligible amount).

I would probably just ignore it, but a responsible person would ask a lawyer.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:37 AM on September 19, 2024 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thought I'd let ya'll know how this turned out. After calling DSHS twice and leaving messages and them not calling me back as they said they would, my brother gave it a try, and they did call him back. The DSHS rep gave him her cell phone number and told him to have me call her. I did, and left a message. About a day later, she returned my call. All I had to do was let her know that my sister has no financial assets and, based on that, she said she would write off the charge.
posted by SageTrail at 8:12 AM on September 26, 2024 [1 favorite]

Glad it got sorted!
posted by lapis at 3:46 PM on September 26, 2024 [1 favorite]