An Orange County debt collector allegedly dunned a Medicaid patient illegally, according to a federal lawsuit, and now the patient is seeking payback on behalf of other Medicaid patients who have received collection letters.
Yoel Bleich accused Collection Bureau of the Hudson Valley Inc. of violating the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, in a complaint filed Nov. 29 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.
CBHV, of Newburgh, “engages in a regular practice of perpetuating Medicaid fraud,” the complaint states, “by dunning Medicaid recipients for additional payments for medical services already paid in full by Medicaid.”
CBHV did not reply to an email asking for its side of the story.
Its mission, according to its website, is to “recover the maximum amount of revenue in a professional and ethical manner,” and its collectors are trained on adherence to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and other laws.
Bleich says that he received services in April 2019 from Tristate Emergency Physicians, of New Windsor, and that CBHV collects debts for Tristate.
This past February, Bleich received a CBHV letter listing an $886 debt to Tristate.
He says he had covered the co-pay portion of the medical bill and paid the rest with Medicaid insurance.
As an enrolled Medicaid provider, he claims, Tristate agreed to accept Medicaid as payment in full for services rendered.
Medical providers also may not accept Medicaid for a particular service and then provide a different, upgraded service, according to the complaint, and charge more than the Medicaid portion. And debt collectors may dun Medicaid recipients only for unpaid co-payments.
Bleich claims that CBHV regularly practices Medicaid fraud by dunning patients whose medical services have been paid by Medicaid.
He brought the complaint as a class action on behalf of all New York Medicaid beneficiaries who have received collection letters from CBHV.
He is demanding unspecified damages for himself and others.
Eight days before Bleich’s case was filed in federal court, Haya S. Muller of Westchester filed a similar complaint in Westchester Supreme Court.
She claims that CBHV has demanded $5,000 for services she received from an anesthesiology practice in November 2020 that were covered by Medicaid.
Bleich is represented by Hackensack, New Jersey attorney Christofer Merritt. Muller is represented by Sanders Law Group of Uniondale, Nassau County.
