An Ohio man received a $224 bill for anesthesia for an endoscopy provided in 2011, according to cleveland.com.
According to the bill, the insurance company paid $896 for the procedure in 2012. While in Ohio many bills fall outside the statute of limitations after six years, this generally doesn't apply to medical bills, Dan Tierney, a spokesperson for Ohio's attorney general's office, told cleveland.com.
Mr. Tierney said if a private physician or hospital is sending the bill, it is likely no statute of limitations would be applied because patients usually sign an agreement in the terms of service. If the bill is from a public hospital, Ohio's statute of limitations for collecting debt is 40 years.
"None of this means you should just whip out your checkbook and fork over $224 without questioning it," cleveland.com columnist Teresa Dixon Murray said. "You need to see the insurance company's explanation of benefits for this date of service. That will determine whether you truly owe anything."
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