Respiratory suspension

I am holding my breath that I have finished paying for my broken hip episode. After 17+ months of receiving the same bill for the full cost of my anesthesiology, I FINALLY convinced the idiot medical billing company that the majority of it was covered by Medicare. The check for the balance is in the mail. I don't think I owe it, but it's not large enough to merit fighting over with incompetents.

This brings me to one of my pet peeves. During this medical episode, as well as an earlier one, I received bills at various times, some over a year later. First born keeps telling me that I owe the money whenever I get the bill. How many months (or years) later is reasonable? I maintain there is (or should be) a law that places some kind of statute of limitations on billing. After all. creditors sometimes assess penalties on late payments. If they're anxious to get the money, shouldn't they bill in a timely manner? (By the way, the medical billers didn't have the temerity to add any penalties , because if they had. . . well. . . .)

The anesthetist doesn't seem to have an office, phone number or email address. I emailed the hospital, asking them to forward my message to him. I suggested he might want to check into his billing entity, but, in this regard, I won't be holding my breath.

Finally, for over a year, I returned the bills each month with copies of letters I had received from Blue Cross, chronicling their willingness to resolve the billing problem. If the doctor can be found, I might ask him to compensate me for postage, copying and aggravation.