Legal Question in Insurance Law in Georgia

Doctors can file insurance claims as a convenience but every patient has the duty to file the claim and your father should have followed up when he didn't see bills. So he was negligent.

However, do not assume the bill is collectable now. Set up a meeting with the doctor (not thE bookkeeper) and insist the bill be taken from collections and submitted to Medicare. If the doctor is unhelpful, fire him, but you likely owe the bill. Do talk to Medicare before paying anything. Instruct the collector in writing that they may not call you or write you, and that you will only deal with the doctor.

In addition to what Mr. Ashman said, the fact that no bills were ever sent to your father may insulate him from the interest and fees. This is a collection matter. Under Georgia law certain things (notices, etc.) must be done in order to collect (1) the debt; and (2) interest and fees. If they didn't bill him way back when they probably can't get interest and late fees going that far back. Also, a doctor who agrees to accept Medicare also agrees to not charge Medicare patients an amount above what Medicare would pay. If this doc and his bookeeper are trying to charge more than that (usually substantially less than half of normal medical billing) you should object to paying the higher amount, too. That would be a back-up position. My first position if this were my father would be "Hell No!"