Medicare requires contractors to pay your clean claims within 30 days, but private payers differ by state. You've submitted a claim that you know is clean, you've waited three months, and you still haven't collected. Do you have any recourse? Yes, thanks to the prompt pay laws that each state must follow when paying your medical claims. What are prompt pay laws: How to find yours: Better option: Caveat: "Because Medicare is a federal program, the 30-day threshold applies to all Medicare claims," Raffa says. "But if the state of New York wants a 45-day prompt pay rule with reference to private insurance, which they have jurisdiction over, they can do that separately," she advises. States Take Rules Seriously If you thought the prompt pay rules were simply fluid "guidelines," think again. Last month, the New York State Insurance Department fined 20 health insurers over $700,000 for violating that state's prompt pay law. "The Prompt Pay Law has been extremely effective in ensuring that consumers and health care providers are paid in a timely fashion and it remains an excellent deterrent against entities slow to pay undisputed claims," said New York State Insurance Dept. Superintendent James Wrynn in an Aug. 24 statement. If your private payer consistently lags on paying claims and fails to meet prompt pay law requirements, in most cases, you are due interest. New York, for example, pays interest at the greater of 12 percent per year or the state's corporate tax rate, according to information on the state's Web site. In Illinois, insurers must pay interest at the rate of 9 percent per year, the state Web site indicates. Most states employ consumer hotline numbers so you can contact the insurance department directly if you want to dispute whether your claim was paid on time. You should contact your state medical association or insurance department if you feel your claim was not paid in a timely manner. For Medicare payers, contact your carrier directly if you feel your claim has not been paid in a timely manner.