Am I responsible if they FAIL to bill Medicare in a timely manner?

by Mark
(Las Vegas, NV)

In august of 2006 I had an outpatient surgery done for which I submitted the only insurance I have, Medicare both A & B, and I paid ALL bills I was aware of in an agreeable manner. I have now, 3.5 YEARS later, been contacted inre a $1224 outstanding bill from a LABORATORY Co. which I NEVER dealt with personally. They apparently did the contract work at the facility where the surgery was performed.

I spoke with the collection agency and explained this to them but they told me "Let me make this perfectly clear, billing your insurance is a COURTESY!". Arrogance and ignorant hard ass attitude, I hung up, cooled off and called back asking, again, for a copy of the original bill as I was not aware of anything unpaid.

Today I received a simple "assignment memo" stating what I just said with NO DETAIL what so ever--NO LIST of services, fees charged or where, who--NOTHING but the dollar amount, date and the lab co. name, nothing that helped me at all know what was done or why.

I live in Nevada, the procedure was done here as well and in FOUR major surgery's since having Medicare I've NEVER had to see, consult or contact the labs for billing info and now this...Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,
MG