obnoxious bill collectors on a debt I don't even owe?

[proud_nerd]

Three years ago I had a knee injury and had an ambulance trip to the hospital. My insurance should have covered it. However, for some reason, they didn't send the bill to the insurance company, they sent it to me. I called the company when I received the bill, and gave them my insurance information. Since I didn't hear anything else, I assumed it was taken care of. I've since realized this was a stupid thing to do. Today I checked my credit report to find that the bill has been sent to collections! When I called the collections agency, they told me that I never gave them the insurance info and now it was too late. They're trying to force me to pay them $657, and won't even discuss the fact that I settled this a long time ago. So my question is, what do I do? I know now that I should have gotten something in writing from them, but I assumed that since he TOLD me it was settled and I didn't hear anything else, it was fine. It just seems to me like they deliberately ignored it until it was too late for insurance to cover it. So what are my options here? Any advice would be appreciated!

[Nnnnn_Ggggg]

It sounds like you didn't actually settle it. You never made sure insurance recieved the claim, or that the claim was paid. Unfortunatly it is your responsibility and you do owe the bill. Chalk this one up to a lesson learned - always stay on top of your health insurance claims. You can probably settle with them for less.