Emergency Room Visit: Hospital did not file insurance

[kit99bar]

Hello!
First I want to thank you for this amazing forum. It has provided much information for me and has lowered my stress and anxiety by vast amounts .

My story:
Late last year I was involved in an accident and required a visit to a hospital's ER. The hospital got my insurance information and an out of date address.

Two-three months later, I receive a final notice letter from the hospital. I call them and provide them with my insurance information again and they said they would file it.

13 months later I have been contacted by NCO with a collection on this bill. I ignored the calls for a few months after googling the number and finding information on the phone number's source. Later, I realized they were calling for the ER visit.

I checked my insurance records and the hospital never submitted a claim. Note that the ambulance company submitted and was paid only one day after the accident.

Steps taken so far:

1. Called my insurance - they could not help as it's been over 1 year.
2. Called the OC - they offered to take payment but would not call the CA to remove the collection.
3. Opt'ed out

Next steps:
I can either ask for validation of the debt or ask the CA for a pay for delete (The bill was not too high so I can pay in full).

Question
I am making this post for advice because the hospital is at fault for not submitting the claim. Is there anything I can do differently for my next steps?

thank you for any help!

[chane]

I'd try a PFD just to make sure it never pops back up. That way you can just be done with it and get it out of your life. If they don't accept the PFD agreement, try the 1, 2 punch.