SANDY, Utah — Kristina Mrocek owes money to University of Utah Health. She isn’t sure how much.
Yes, there’s the amount listed on her account balance, but Mrocek says it’s not so simple. She’s been asking insurance to pay more.
While Mrocek fights, the state of Utah collects.
“They've been withholding my tax return every year for unpaid medical bills,” Mrocek told FOX 13 News near her home in Sandy.
Since U of U Health is a state entity, delinquent bills go to the Office of State Debt Collection. FOX 13 recently heard from viewers like Mrocek who had their tax refunds held to pay those bills. The viewers contacted the station after a story in February about a Weber County couple who had their tax refunds held over a car accident with a state vehicle.
Kylene Metzger, a spokeswoman for U of U Health, said it does not send delinquent bills directly to the Office of State Debt Collection. Rather, U of U Health sends, “the debtor’s information to the Division of Finance if the account goes unpaid after 120 days.”
The Utah Division of Finance is the parent agency of the Office of State Debt Collection.
“We work with patients in the resolution of their account balances,” Metzger said in a statement on behalf of U of U Health, “by offering discounts, payment plans, and financial assistance for those who qualify before an account is sent to outside collections. Additionally, University of Utah Health follows the Finders (UT Accounts Receivables Act) law, which provides debtors notice and an opportunity for a hearing.”
Mrocek said she has an autoimmune disorder and is blind in one eye because of it. Her son is healthy but still needs the occasional vaccination or doctor visit. She’s fought with insurers and U of U Health over all of it.
Last year, Mrocek received a notice saying the Office of State Debt Collection was withholding her $636 tax refund to pay U of U Health.
“So, I'm caught in this vicious cycle,” Mrocek said, “but yet they withhold my money, and I don't know how much I owe completely, because I need to get this adjusted to fix that.”
FOX 13 showed the notices to Mrocek and other viewers forwarded to Dalié Jimenez at the University of California-Irvine and Claire Johnson Raba at the University of Illinois-Chicago. They are both law professors who study debt collection.
They said most, if not all, states allow for tax withholdings to pay debts owed to the state, but they saw something in the notices.
“I actually am concerned about the lack of notification about hearing rights in that in the medical debt letter,” Johnson Raba said.
“I'm concerned that this that the Department of Finance Letter does not comply with due process requirements,” she added, “because it does not provide the opportunity to present objections and to be heard.”
Letters notifying a taxpayer of a held refund usually have the word “judgment” in the text even when no court has entered such an order against a debtor.
“That sounds very misleading,” Jimenez said, “using the word ‘judgment’ when there is actually no lawsuit and there has been no judgment by any court that sounds like (it could) intimidate someone to think, ‘Oh my gosh. Like, you know, this is out of my hands.’”
Mrocek said she’d like more information and the opportunity to sit down with someone at the Office of State Debt Collection to discuss her options for fending off a withholding while she negotiates with insurers and U of U Health.
“They give you a number to call,” Mrocek added, “but, I mean, I'm a single parent. I don't have the money to fight against the state of Utah.”
What can you do if your tax refund is being seized over medical debt?
- Go online to find U of U Health’s billing dispute and appeals process. Explain if you’re still in discussions with insurance or ask for a payment plan.
- If you receive a letter from the Office of State Debt Collection, call the number on the letter. Say you want to appeal the withholding.
- Keep copies of everything – bills, receipts, letters, emails and other correspondence, etc. – from both U of U Health and the Office of State Debt Collection.