I’ve always heard about debt collectors contacting other people about obscure debts they didn’t know they owed, but I never thought it would happen to us. After all, we always pay our bills with ample time. So imagine my surprise when I opened the mail this afternoon from a collection company claiming that I owe them money. I’ve been reading the letter trying to mull over my options before I make a move.

A little backstory. My wife was laid off back in October of last year, and part of her severance package was that her previous employer would continue her medical coverage through to the end of the year. So throughout the remainder of the year, she used her insurance just like any normal person would. She made a purchase at the pharmacy in December to refill her birth control prescription for $48.99. Normally, it would have been completely covered by insurance, and we thought nothing of it at the time.

Fast forward to today, when I open a letter from a collection agency stating the following:

According to [healthcare provider] records they paid for certain pharmacy services, that you obtained after you were no longer covered by them. These services were not an [healthcare provider] obligation and should not have been paid.

[Healthcare provider] has hired [collection agency] to arrange for the reimbursement of these funds for the money they paid for those services. We understand that this letter may be the first time this matter has been called to your attention, and by sending this letter, neither [healthcare provider] nor we are suggesting that you have neglected to pay your bills.

So of course, I’m pretty confused at this point and I’m left with a few questions. What happened to my wife’s insurance for the month of December? Why did my wife’s previous insurance provider send the bill straight to collections and didn’t bother contacting us first? Is her previous employer responsible to reimburse for these charges? And more importantly, what is going to happen to my wife’s credit?

Thankfully, I have options. The back of the letter states that I have 30 days to do the following either pay the debt, dispute it, or request confirmation. I’m not denying that the debt is ours, but I’m wondering what happened to my wife’s insurance in December.

I have some phone calls to make. Hopefully all the horror stories you hear all the time aren’t true.