At an insurance carrier, healthcare provider, or claims-administration firm, you collect outstanding amounts owed on claims — subrogation recoveries, deductible balances, secondary payer obligations, and the post-claim work that recovers money the insurer's already paid out.
In an insurance back office or third-party claims operation, the work runs on aging reports, recovery files, and the phone-and-letter cadence that moves a recovery from open to closed. Most of the day mixes outbound calls to other carriers, attorneys, or providers, with documentation work that keeps the recovery file audit-ready. Recoveries collected per quarter is the operating measure.
The catch tends to be the legal complexity of subrogation and coordination of benefits — the basics are routine, but contested recoveries involve attorneys, state laws on subrogation rights, and multi-party negotiations. Variance across employers is real: at large carriers the role specializes by claim type; at smaller insurers or TPAs it tilts more generalist.
Folks who do well here often enjoy the legal-procedural puzzle and the back-and-forth negotiation with other professionals. Insurance designations (AIC, CPCU) anchor advancement. The trade-off is the often-adversarial nature of subrogation work and the patience required for recoveries that can take years to close.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Admin & Office roles →At an insurance carrier, healthcare provider, or claims-administration firm, you collect outstanding amounts owed on claims — subrogation recoveries, deductible balances, secondary payer obligations, and the post-claim work that recovers money the insurer's already paid out.
Median pay for a Claims Collector is about $46K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $34K to $66K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Speaking, Active Listening, Social Perceptiveness, Persuasion, and Writing.
Most people in this role hold a high school diploma.
Employment in this field is projected to decline about 10.5% through 2034, with roughly 165,020 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Tax Collector, City Collector, and Port Collector.
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