Collection Calls before bill is due?

by David
(Timberlake, NC)

I have a medical bill, which I received a bill in the mail for, due date: October 26th. On the bottom it states that if bill is not paid within 10 days of due date it may be sent to collections. So today (Oct.20th) I received a call from a collections agency with a really pushy guy, telling me I was in collections; nice at first, then started demanding all this information from me. My phone #, then he asked for a relative or someone else's number in case he couldn't contact me, he got snippy when I refused. He started spouting off names, some of who just had the same last name, but not related, then a few that were. Getting all smart saying "We already have all your information". So I proceeded to tell him that I have a current bill and that I would contact them directly. All the while he's trying to talk over top of me telling me I can't do that. Then I hung up on him.

So my question is this: If I have a current bill that has a due date a week from now, can I already be sent to collections?; and if so, shouldn't I be able to deal with the original biller directly still and not these yahoos?