State finally pays up

I found out today that the State Department finally paid my last outstanding bill on April 15. This finally ends all remaining issues with my 2006 foreign service officer candidacy. Here's a time line of the important details:

• March 2006 – Passed the foreign service officer oral examination in Washington, DC.
• April 2006 – Had my security clearance interview with Diplomatic Security. My wife and I start doing the tests required for the medical clearance.
• May 2006 – took the French language test, but failed
• June 2006 – took the Chinese language test, but failed
• July 2006 – Had to take a few other medical tests.
• Sept. 2006 – Had an additional security clearance interview at the consulate in Shanghai
• Nov. 2006 – took the Korean language test, but failed
• Late Dec. 2006 – Found “unsuitable” by the final review board; I appealed.
• Jan. 2007 – SY required to do additional tests. Took the Chinese language test again, and this time passed.
• Feb. 2007 – Appeal rejected. We start getting bills from the hospital for the January tests. I send the hospital the proof that the State Department is responsible.
• Aug. 2007 - Payment for out-of-pocket costs received at parents' address, though the hospital bill remains outstanding.
• Sept. 2007 - The hospital sends our outstanding account to a collection agency. Being out of the country, I "didn't get the memo."
• Nov. 2007 - Just a week or so before my credit report would have been permanently affected, I find out about the collection agency issue and immediately send them the documents showing that State is responsible.
• April 2008 - Six months later, State finally pays the hospital, closing the account.

I can think of three reasons why things took so long: First is my wife's lack of a Social Security number. Second is the fact that the order for the tests came while my candidacy was under appeal. Third is the fact we didn't have insurance.

Normally, candidates send the bills to their insurance provider and State takes care of any remaining portion. However, we didn't have any insurance in February 2007, so the government was responsible for the full amounts. The hard part is prooving that you don't have insurance - I had to provide written statements to that effect.