I just received another bill from 2010 from another collection agency collecting from another pain specialist, who we went to for only a consultation (one time visit). I remember Suzy using her medicare card and paying the co-pay with cash. Something is going on and it seems we now have a target on our heads. I payed off all bills, the last remaining ones over a year ago and they were current, no late payments at all.

Hey Jim - that is so bizarre. Funny thing is that I just saw a snippet on the news yesterday about these bogus collection agency notices. Glad you found out the other one was a scam before shelling out more money. If you haven't done it lately, I would recommend getting a copy of your credit report (for both you and your wife). You can get them for free at annualcreditreport.com.

My husband started getting collection notices several years ago from cell phone providers, medical providers, etc in Montana. He has never lived anywhere outside of VA and never had a cell plan in his name (they have always been in mine). Anyway, his name was similar to the person who did not pay any of his bills so they tagged him. As soon as one tagged him, all the others followed suit. It was on my husband's credit reports, it was a mess. We only found out when we went to refinance our mortgage. That was quite a shock for us.

That is my fear is when we go to purchase a house then have credit issues after shelling out 10s of thousands of dollars. I'm starting to think this may be a medicare issue where medicare did not pay like they should have, or the docs office staff screwed up at our expense. I have read about staff being incompetent with billing at this particular (one time) doctor's office. I have also heard about others getting stuck with bills belonging to another with the same name. Sometimes, after going through what we have gone through for the last 10 years, is to just move out of the country. But, as the saying goes, the grass is not always greener on the other side.