First big fight

I have had to take a couple of days before writing this.  It has been a huge deal to me and
I debated if I even should keep record of it.

For the first time in our marriage Dan and I had a serious fight. Now I will point out that to most people this would be a small thing in the scheme of life, but we NEVER fight. We disagree, we discuss and I usually win. This time it was huge!

Last March I was in the hospital having a procedure done. Apparently somewhere in that vast facility they had some old info on me and one of the subcontractors billed a insurance company that I haven't used for 2 years. That being said, I was not aware of this snafu, and went blissfully on my way in life. Suddenly out of the blue, sometime in Late July early August I got a collection notice for just under $1000.00.  I called the agency and all I will say is that Collection Agents are JERKS.  The letter says I can dispute the claim, but I had to call. so I did and the jerk who answered told me I couldn't.  We didn't end our conversation on a happy note, and I called the company who was trying to collect. I spoke with a nice girl who told me of the mix up, but that she couldn't do anything because it was sent to collections. She told me they sent letters and called. She said one call was answered by a child. I said that's not possible since I have no kids, and it's a cell phone.

anyway I put it off for a while (totally my fault) and about a month ago I called and asked for the collections department of the medical place that money was owed to. I left a message and considered they would take care of it, since it was their fault for not filing the claim and not notifying me.

Wrong way to deal with it I guess. Last Sunday I received a summons. I have since found out that this is a notice of intent to sue. The Collections Agency was suing me. I seriously debated on not saying anything to Dan about it. I knew he would freak out. On Monday I contacted a lawyer through my work because I pay a bi-weekly fee for legal help. he asked me to drop the summons off and he would look at it. He advised me to just put in a claim through my insurance company.

Tuesday I decided to tell Dan about it. I felt it was wrong to not. He said he wasn't surprised, but seemed to handle it nicely. Then a few hours into my work day, I got a call to my work phone that I couldn't answer, and one to my cell phone a moment later. I looked up the number and it was the lawyer who was suing me. Suddenly I got a email from Dan telling me he got a call from them. Before I could respond with the lawyer info, I got a call on phone from Dan.  I always try to answer his calls because it's usually an emergency.

This time my sweet loving husband tossed me under the bus. He was conference calling with the Lawyers assistant. NO WARNING AT ALL.

I was so upset. I talked to this assistant who badgered me. They wanted an additional $400.00 on top of the bill. I told her that it wasn't my fault and that I had retained a lawyer. She went off on how it was a debit owed from 2010. I told her she was wrong. She didn't even know what the heck she was talking about. I gave her a run down and that I was under the assumption that her client's client had taken care of it and that I would not pay. I said I would discuss with my lawyer. she gave some stupid line about how I agreed to pay if my insurance did not, and I told her that the provider needed to bill the right insurance and that I would pay whatever they did not after that. I pretty much hung up on her.

Dan called back and I yelled at him. I was so mad. Here I was in the middle of my work day, I couldn't leave my desk and now all my co-workers got to hear about my dirty laundry. If I had a different boss I would have been fired. I hung up on him.

Because he car had broke down, I had to pick him up from work. I gave him the silent treatment. 2 hours later I was still pissed off. He didn't speak to me for a few minutes. We were heading to my lawyer's office to drop off the paperwork and discuss. Suddenly Dan tells me what happened. He freaked out because apparently this woman felt free to share my personal info with him.  Told him that if I didn't pay it by 5 pm that night the price would go up higher.  So after she browbeat him he called me with her, and after that call, he called the lawyer back and paid it off.

I was FURIOUS!  I was so MAD. it's crazy but for the first time in our marriage I seriously wanted to hit him. I held back but I am sure it was only because I was driving. We argued about it and I told him that I would call my lawyer and tell him never mind that my stupid ass husband paid it off.  What would the point be in talking to the lawyer now?

When we got home Dan just walked off down the street. I was actually kinda happy with that as I was: 1-pissed off at him and 2- He was showing some backbone in being pissed at me.

After his walk we both apologized and I told him I realized that he just trying to take care of me and make it go away.  but I was still unhappy in that he gave them a $400.00 profit that wasn't our fault.

We did make up, but as you can probably tell by this post that I am still upset over it. How did that woman from the lawyers office have my personal information?  I mean she knew about my hospital stay in January of 2010. Not only How could she have that, but why would she?  It had NOTHING to do with the medical agency that submitted the claim to an insurance agency that I hadn't been with in so long. I was even surprised that they had this old info as I have NEVER used that insurance at the hospital I was at. Why would that hospital even have that old crap on file?

I think I will wrap up this post. I'm just getting myself all worked up.