Peggy Dula is as surprised as she is relieved. The 55-year-old St. Charles resident had been fighting a $2,700 ambulance bill for nearly a year. Now, the amount she owes from her September 2021 car wreck appears to be zero.
The initial $3,600 charge for Dula’s ambulance ride was significantly higher than the charges for her two siblings, who were riding in her car at the time and were transported to the same hospital, KHN, NPR, and CBS News reported in spotlighting Dula’s bill this summer as part of a series on medical billing called “Bill of the Month.”
The siblings rode in separate ambulances, each from a different nearby fire protection district. All three were billed different amounts for the same services.
Dula’s injuries were the least serious — but her bill was the highest.
Even after Dula’s insurer paid $900, her bill from Pingree Grove and Countryside Fire Protection District was still roughly twice what each of her siblings had been charged.
Dula’s attempts to resolve the bill were unsuccessful.
Paramedic Billing Services, the company that handles billing for Pingree Grove, said she’d have to dispute the charges directly with the fire protection district. But Dula said she couldn’t get a fire district representative on the phone.
Then, in June, Dula, who works at a jewelry store in Geneva, got a letter from the Wakefield & Associates collections agency seeking payment for her ambulance bill.
Dula remained resolute about not paying until the price was lowered to be more in line with what her siblings were charged. But the collections agency was equally firm. And that’s where the bill stood for months — in a stalemate.
A week ago, Dula called the hospital where she was taken after the crash. She recently had gotten a bill from the hospital saying she owed nearly $1,500. But, when she called, she was told her balance was now zero.
The surprise resolution of her hospital bill prompted her to call Wakefield & Associates to check. She said she was told that her ambulance bill had been pulled back from collections and that her balance was indeed zero.
The apparent resolution came approximately a month after “CBS Mornings” covered Dula’s billing saga.
Wakefield & Associates confirmed to KHN that the bill had been pulled back and that her balance with the agency is zero.
Pingree Grove Fire Chief Kieran Stout did not respond to requests for comment.
“It feels great,” Dula said. “It was a real monkey on my back.”
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism on health issues.
