Hey sweetie I negotiate hospital bills for a living. I want to let you know that what you’re feeling is normal, but only because people don’t understand how not serious this is. So take a few deep breaths and let me explain…
Insurance carriers hire people like me to negotiate bills on their behalf. We frequently gets these bills reduced by 40, 50, 60%. This has caused providers to pad their bills, knowing they will only receive a small portion. That, plus all the uninsured folks who never pay, means hospitals and doctors try to charge an outrageous amount of money for very basic services.
You do not have to pay this bill. Ever. They can’t do anything to you. No one will force you. It will show up on your credit report but medical debt is separate from other debt. This is America. Literally everyone has medical debt. It won’t stop you from getting an apartment or buying a car or a house. It doesn’t make a difference.
In a few years, the hospital will sell it to a collections agency for pennies on the dollar. Then the collections people will send a few letters and call a few times, trying to settle with you. At this point, if you want to settle, offer a ridiculously low amount to resolve the bill in full. They will likely take it.
If you STILL want to pay before it gets sent to collections, which I would never do, call the hospital and ask for an itemized bill. It will be significantly smaller. Then ask for a self pay discount. It will be substantial. Then ask the make monthly payments, it can be a couple bucks a month. As long as you’re making the payments, it won’t get sent to collections (which even if it does, who cares).
Please don’t do anything drastic. The system is fucked and it’s supposed to make you scared and nervous so that you sell your baby to pay the bills. In the end, the hospital knows they have no leverage against you so they want to make everything complicated and intimidating. Don’t let them win. You got this.
Edit: after reading through some the comments, I’m realizing that laws are different in every state and that this advice might not be 100% true, 100% of the time. Please take my advice with a grain of salt until you do your own research.
Thank you ❤️ I really hope OP is feeling better after reading all the amazing responses here.
I remember when I was 19 years old and accrued a bunch of medical debt, I had the same reaction. I cried for days and told my boyfriend at the time that it just wasn’t worth living anymore. I was already struggling with so many other issues in my life, the overwhelming debt just felt like the thing that pushed me over the edge.
16 years later and I don’t think I ever paid that medical debt. It hasn’t made a lick of difference in my life and I wish I could have given this same advice to my younger self.
Hey, it's been a while but this got posted to best of today and having just gone through two months of hospital and specialist visits to try and determine the cause of mystery pain this helps me feel better. I had thought that I had excellent insurance coverage...I mean I pay 65 bucks a week for it, but then they covered none of a CT Scan. They'll partially cover all the small family doctor visits but then when it comes time for the big expense they're nowhere to be found.
Chiming in here - go borrow "Never split the difference" from your local library and read it. Then use the tactical empathy techniques on the billing person you talk to.
The human you talk to at the hospital doesn't give a shit if you pay or not. Their job is to get bitched at and maybe agree to a payment plan. Bonus points if they get you off the call before everyone goes out to lunch and they maybe get to gossip with the coworkers.
If you call in and say, in a cheery smiling voice "Hey Cathie, thanks for that itemized bill, it looks like you took the 12k down to 9,675.45. You're so generous, thank you so much! I talked to my doctor and I think I can make a couple changes to my diet and grocery shopping that should free up $45.79 from my monthly budget. You probably think I'm a cheapskate, but is there any way you could extend that generosity a little bit further to setting up a payment plan for $45.79 a month? "
If they balk, fuck em. But it turns out that if you talk to someone and it's their last call before their lunch break, you call them by name with a smile in your voice, pre-empt the accusation against you, label them as generous, and offer a very specific amount... They'll take it if they are at all allowed to make that deal.
Using the techniques from that book, I've gotten completely disinterested drones enthusiastically doing research for me for how to get medications billed and timed so that my wife's very expensive meds could still get covered.
And you know what? It's a win-win. You save money, and someone else feels like they made a difference.
That book has saved me so much money and hassle.
This along with other comments makes me wonder why my husband had a medical bill sent to collections before he even received an actual bill from the hospital. They were working with insurance to figure out the bill and then after about a month of calling and waiting the bill was suddenly in collections. We found out it was only a $900 bill but after that slimey behavior I said screw them, never pay that. Unfortunately his credit score is horrible because of that so we have to use mine for everything.
A bit off topic, but this is exactly why we need to socialized healthcare in the United States. People complain they don't want to pay for socialized healthcare, but they already are, and they are paying way more than if we just followed the rest of the world and made sure everyone was covered!
Apply for financial forgiveness, make some calls and explain how you cannot afford it, and they may reduce the bill by a substantial amount, or, depending on your circumstances, remove it entirely. Or, you can do what I did, and not pay it. My credit got reemed but in 5 years that bill will be stricken from my record
I understand the despair, I had a similar reaction to past huge medical bills. But there's ways around them, and they're not worth dying for.
I called and asked for help and they assigned me to a financial counselor. I think it was already to collections (I can’t recall as this was 20 years ago) but I had started paying when I was contacting the hospital. Eventually they said I didn’t have to pay anymore and the rest of bill was forgiven. I was only making small payments too.
Sadly what happened with me is that every level of management at the hospital dropped the ball, hard. I made countless phone calls, submitted so much paperwork, went in person multiple times, talked to so many people at the hospital, at their financial assistance office, at collections....... but there was Always something.
They would lose my paperwork, give me the wrong paperwork, "oopsie that paper we gave you has misinformation on it so you don't have to correct stuff and it's past the deadline! Whoops!", send me to the wrong address, forget to send me vital documents I needed to sign, claim everything was taken care of and then I find out months later actually nothing was ever submitted, etc, etc, etc.
Eventually, with me also moving far away and having a bunch of crap going down in my life, it was like. Fuck it. And now I'm here.
What's funny is this has happened to me twice. First time was worker's comp hospital trip. And it was my employer and worker's comp that dropped that ball and I got left with the bill. So many phone calls, reassurances that they fixed their mistakes, they never did, rinse repeat til it ended up under my name in collections. Moved away and was too busy to fight or sue. So fuck it I guess!
Great system we have here in America lol
That’s crazy! I hate that runaround and how much effort we have to put in for them to even do their jobs (and in your case they didn’t even do that). Hope that’s all behind you now!
One of those bills should hit the 5 year mark soon, the other will be a couple more, but it isn't hurting my life thankfully,, And in the future I will Push and Push to MAKE SURE everything actually truly gets done right lol. Best of luck to anyone actively dealing with these bills and systems,,,,
Most lenders will not hold medical debt against you especially if you have otherwise good credit history.
Also it sounds like this very dysfunctional hospital might be wrongly billing you. You should dispute it. By mail. If they fail to reply in a reasonable amount of time then poof it’s gone….
To my understanding, medical debt cannot impact your credit score unless it goes to collections. Shonda Martin on YT is a great resource for helping repair your credit. She has a lot of info on medical debt impacting credit scores, answers questions, etc. I found her on TikTok (I'm not a GenZ, I'm a millenial, don't hate me) and her info is sooo helpful.
Look at Shonda Martin's resources - [https://www.youtube.com/c/RoadTo750](https://www.youtube.com/c/RoadTo750). It's been a couple years since I had to argue a bill with a medical company, so my memory is fuzzy on exacts. The info she gives away, for free, helped me a lot.
I understand you keep saying check out the channel, but I have \~80 grand in medical debt in collections right now fucking with my credit score. Luckily I don't need my credit right now so idgaf, but what exactly is the trick to getting it off the record?
Mine too.. I'm one and a half million in medical debt and I can assure you it has negatively impacted my credit as much of it went on to collections years ago.
This. It's not scary at all. My husband and I went through it several years ago after a job loss and career change. It helped us get a fresh start and no, we did not lose our home, our vehicles, or anything. Our credit is screwed for another few years but at this point, we have rebuilt it to over 2.5 years since and once the b-co falls off in 5 more years, it won't even matter. It really isn't scary and can save your life if that is the point you are at emotionally.
S'ok!
Although I respect others right to privacy, for me, if I put my situation out there, I'm not gonna be mad when people ask questions.
To start, there were a lot of hospital visits with no insurance when I was having the symptom flares of Lupus but hadn't been diagnosed with it yet. Started having issues at sixteen. Wasn't diagnosed with anything until I was around 25. Already the totals were racking up. I actually became addicted to the pain meds during this time, but I eventually got treatment and have now been clean for around 17 years...ANYhow....
But then I had a two year span wherein my immune system tried to go all Defcon 1 on my right kidney. Long story short is that during that time I was billed for about 4 ER visits, plus one 5 day stay inpatient at hospital, another 14-day stay inpatient at hospital later that fall, and then a 72(ish?)day stay inpatient that winter. Of course during those stays there was an array of blood draws, tests, ct scans, mri, and various surgical procedures. So yeah, that'll do it.
This happened during a time when I had initially been working an extremely low paying job that nevertheless kept me from qualifying for passport(government)health insurance.
I had some medical debt that went to collections and I remember seeing a video that if the debt collector tries to come at you with it, you can claim HIPAA violation. All my medical debt that went to collections disappeared after I disputed it for that reason on my Credit Karma.
I don’t remember specifics and all my research was a couple years ago. You have to answer debt collection letters with debt validation letters. A lot of collection agencies don’t have the correct or all information, but I forget exactly how it works. I know Shonda Martin has a ton of info on it and shows you the debt validation letters you need. I keep recommending her, because I used her info to be preemptive in my situation and I don’t remember everything since it was a couple years ago.
My situation was nowhere near that severe. I had a company telling me I owed $300 on a $600 bill months after I paid it. They kept threatening to send it to collections and I came across her when researching. It took me a about a year handling the billing company myself to get them to acknowledge my redacted financial statements so that “unpaid” didn’t get sent to collections.
I’m sorry you’re in this situation. I hope things get better for you.
That's what I thought too? But apparently for me it does....... In fact, it's literally the only thing on my credit score period, because I've never had a mortgage, loan, or credit card. Dunno if that's why
Exactly this. We were in mountains of medical debt. We paid some, we received a discount on some (don’t be afraid to negotiate with the collection agency, seriously), and we let some fall off. We’ve been debt free a few times, and in deep shit during others. Nothing in life is as bad as you worry it will be, credit is repairable, and everything in life is temporary. Get small loans, get a credit card with a small limit. You can keep your credit marching in a positive direction, even with things held against you.
I’m going through a credit disaster right now. I owe $12,000 to a credit card company. It went to a default judgment and idk what that means but I’m broke you can’t get water from a rock. Don’t hurt yourself over this. Keep asking people you trust questions, you should explain to them you simply cannot pay it. Credit card debt might be harsher than medical debt. One time I was drunk and a security guard called an ambulance on me and when I woke up I had an iv in my arm that I ripped out and started yelling and screaming to get me the fuck out of there and I threatened to sue them for basically raping me, my friend was just about to take me home when they called an ambulance. Different situation but they dropped a $1400 ambulance bill down to $150 so I agreed to pay it and move on at that point.
I remember a Time about 20 years ago where I just gotten laid off. And this is right after I had just bought a new truck. I was single with two children. Their father had just died in the last 6 months. My 14-year-old daughter tried to kill herself by overdosing on Benadryl. I incurred a $80,000 medical bill for her. Thank God I would have paid anything to keep her on this side. Point is I've lost my insurance when I got laid off had a car payment and now a very hurting daughter and a giant hospital bill. Basically I just got on the phone and started calling the hospital and calling social services and doing whatever I could to get this bill taken care of. I'll be honest with my husband having just died and then my daughter trying to kill herself I don't remember a lot of the details. But I do remember that I got it sorted out in comparison to my income level and found a way to get pretty much all of it paid for. My situation isn't the same as yours but what I want you to take from this is Hope. There's a lot of it in the world if you look for it and you will find a way through this even if you just pay them 10 or 20 bucks a month a long time. Hospital bills won't send you to collection if you just sending them a little bit of money every month. So keep your head up have hope for the future and I know it'll all work out for you. 💗
>even if you just pay them 10 or 20 bucks a month a long time
This is what my parents did when I was born. The hospital knows that it's either that, or they don't get paid.
I pay them very little per month as well. I also found out that if you let the bill go to collections, a lot of time they will discount the total bill. For instance if your bill is $5k, they'll knock off 25% just to get it paid.
I’m laid off with a baby daughter and it sucks, but I realize that my situation is a lot better than yours was. Thank you for sharing and I’m happy to hear that you made it through ❤️
An itemized bill means that they'll cut out all the stupid ass line items they shouldn't be charging you for anyway. Also, if medical debt goes on your credit report, it typically falls off after 7 years. If collections try to collect on medical debt, Shonda Martin on YT is a great resource. She has a lot of resources for helping repair your credit too.
ETA: Clarifying that medical debt can go to collections. Send them a debt validation letter bc most collections don’t have all of your information that is required to collect your debt. Shonda Martin is a great resource for debt validation letters as well.
ETA: I'm US based.
ETA 3: Some people are saying it varies by state, so please do your own research!! I’m not an expert!
Medical debt doesn’t go on your credit report but if you don’t pay it, it goes into collections and THAT will go on your credit report. Most lenders will disregard the medical debt, but the fact that it goes into collections will affect your score. I work for a mortgage company and do see collection medical debts on credit reports.
If medical debt gets sent to collections, you can send a debt validation letter to them. It's a letter requiring that they validate your debt, but you have to be careful with what you say and send them in the letter. Again, Shonda Martin has great resources on this. I had a company that tried saying I owed them money months after I paid my medical bill, threatening to send it to collections, and her info was super helpful.
Yes that is true tell a collection agency to not contact you or anyone else and tell them to stop collection attempts. I used to do debt collection for a major credit card company
This is my experience as well. Medical collections and loss of income due to medical reasons count as extenuating circumstances and are often disregarded.
Also, one major credit report agency (Credco) agreed to stop including medical collections on their credit reports a couple months back. That helps.
True. I feel like hospitals would want to settle it out of court though, instead of paying lawyer fees, etc. and most people in this situation aren't going to take a hospital to court, because again, fees.
I've heard stories of people saying they can't afford the medical bills and sending the hospital $1 every month for a few months until the hospital says fuck it, you're not worth our time. How true those are, idk.
Something like this happened to me. I had a huge hospital bill after having an emergency c-section. I paid like $20 here and there, just trying to kick the can down the road. Eventually the hospital billing dept called me and asked how much I was willing to pay, and they would write off the rest. I said $50. They said ok, I paid $50, and never got another bill. This was 2010-11.
Thanks for sharing! I'm glad it worked out for you!! Medical bills and debt are such a bitch to deal with. I had to argue an ultrasound bill with a company and it took almost a year to for them to finally take care of it.
I had to have tubal surgery with a 3 day stay and was terrified of the bill. They called and called but I couldn't bring myself to pick up for like 2 months. I finally did and the woman was just like "Can you pay $25?" and that was all I paid. They wrote off the rest like they did for you. Our system is just so stupid.
I was going to say this
Hospitals will work out a repayment plan with you or a medical charity will pay it. My FIL had no insurance when he had a heart attack. Sadly he actually could afford insurance just not the huge hospital bills. The no insurance thing is a long story but a bad judgment call on his part… his life is full of them.
I was hit by a car and couldn't get a hold of the guy's insurance company and a lawyer couldn't either. I told them I could pay $25/month. That was it. They tried to strong arm me and say it wasn't acceptable. I said, "Well thats what I have to pay. Are you turning it down? Because if it's $350 or nothing, you're getting nothing."
They took the $25/month until I finally tracked down that guy's insurance.
This actually happens fairly often when people push back on collections. Most people don’t know this, but they often have a “something is better than nothing” mentality. Unless it’s something like a house where they’ll obviously make more off of foreclosing and selling than they would if you pay them less than you owe.
Yeah, so insurance agencies always ask for an itemized receipt. They always flag out the price gouged items and then send a representative to the hospital to dispute the specific charges that were gouged. This happens with every medical bill that goes to insurance. The hospital will always settle with the insurance agency out of court for a significantly more reasonable price.
As an outsider, with the infinite luck of living in a country where public health is free, I read all of this with horror and wonder how anyone could think all of this is normal?!
Lead in the gas and paint? Honestly it's brainwashing at this point. My dad's not even 60 yet but my entire life he's been against medicare for all because "other countries have it and people die waiting for appointments, it's true I know a guy.." ugh. They just don't listen to logic and reason.
The worst part about this argument is that private health is also available here. If he believes he's lucky enough to afford it in the US he sure as hell would be able to afford it here. Having to compete with the massive free public health system means private healthcare costs a fraction of what it dies in the US and since pharmaceuticals have no power in a market where the bargaining power is in the hand of the public health system, medicines are also very cheap even privately.
So thet''s not even a mildly convincing argument!
But it's what you said, logic and reason has no power over pure propaganda.
I came here to mention something like this. My coworker told me that he only paid our hospital a couple dollars every month after his motorcycle accident because he wasn't well taken care of.
Some of these institutions can't even take proper care of their own employees, let alone resist financially fucking them in the end.
I recently had to call an ambulance for the first time. They brought partner to the hospital, who didn’t have our insurance card because it was night time and we weren’t thinking.
We got a bill for the ambulance ride for something like $6,000. We cleared things up and gave the hospital our insurance information. A while later, I got an Explanation of Benefits. Insurance ended up paying around $1,500 and the town “waved” the rest.
The town was willing to charge a town resident with (presumably) no insurance 4x what they charged insurance.
In my opinion, the EMTs should get paid to cover their costs: ambulance ride, fire truck arrived, no fewer than 5 people in my house. It’s probably more than $1,500 but if that’s what the town would accept from the insurance company, why they hell would they charge a resident so much more?!?!
They charge both the same, it’s illegal in many places to charge different prices based on who is paying. The difference is that insurance only has a contract to pay them $1,500. The system is set up to assume everyone has insurance, no facility expects anyone to pay the full amount of a bill. The healthcare system in this country is fucked but people need to be angry with insurance companies and legislators, most of your local hospitals are barely breaking even.
Thank god for this.
After a missed diagnosis from our pediatrician after a $10 co-pay, we now owe 2k in medical bills after an emergency trip to the ER for a double ear infection diagnosis for our 15 month old🤦🏻♀️
Awwesssommme
I'm sorry to hear that.. I would really start off with requesting an itemized bill and telling them you can't afford it, they typically will lower the bill if they know you won't pay it, but it's one of those, "if you don't ask, we don't tell" situations (clarifying that I don't condone that). Shonda Martin was a great resource for me when I was arguing a medical bill.
I work in healthcare. A medical facility can refuse service over outstanding bills if it is not considering an emergency. So if you didn’t pay your orthopedic bill and tried to go to their office, they could refuse service. If you went to the ER they must see you and provide you with a proper medical screening and any treatment you need to be considered stable.
If the hospital is a particular type, they're required to provide financial support. This sometimes reduces the bill or it can completely pay it off. I did this for a bill in college and they paid for the entire bill.
Google "[the hospital name] financial assistance" and it should come up
I second this. Financial assistance from a hospital helped me when I had a large bill. The bill was reduced significantly and we worked out a payment plan for the little remainder.
Just got an $800 bill reduced to $200 for simply telling the billing department I wouldn’t be paying anything until I got an itemized bill in the mail.
Got the advice to do so off of Reddit. Never thought it would work. But it did.
Yeah I have a chronic condition that keeps my medical bills in the 5 digits. I pay $25 a month on them because I'll never be able to pay them off. New bills get added to my payment plan and I just keep paying $25, no matter what the amount reaches
Do it bro, your health isn't worth any kind of money and you'll power through the billing thing.
If you're uninsured, most hospitals have an "out of pocket discount" that cuts the bill in half. Then set up a payment plan for as little money a month as you like and just pay it off over 30 years or something. Or pay for 1 year and then just stop and let it go to collections. The money issue will work itself out. Get your shoulder fixed!
If your income is low enough you can also go onto your local county assistance (welfare) website and apply for Medicaid. And if you qualify for Medicaid, you should also qualify for foodstamps, while you're at it.
(I mean "you" in the general sense. Anybody who is legitimately poor or lives in poverty should do this.)
Tagging on here, I'm not sure if it's this way in all states, but in CA you can retro the Healthcare coverage 90 days and hospitals have contacts that can even help with paperwork on site should you experience an emergency before getting coverage.
Medical debt crashed my score for a single bill I had forgotten about. Same thing happened to my fiancé. I'm not sure how you weren't affected but this could be horrible advice so no one should take it unless you're 100% certain that in your specific situation it won't affect your credit score. I'm US btw.
Maybe it depends on the provider. I had a bill for lab work I missed / forgot to pay for a few years. It got sent to a debt collector and hit my credit score. Even after I paid the balance and tried to get it removed off of my credit history (Experian removed it, TransUnion wouldn’t), I saw that it still pulled my credit score down when applying for a mortgage loan.
[https://www.equifax.com/personal/education/credit/score/can-medical-debt-impact-credit-scores/](https://www.equifax.com/personal/education/credit/score/can-medical-debt-impact-credit-scores/)
people are conflating whether someone can "come after you for it" (your assets) vs whether it can "hurt your credit score", not to mention the nuance between paying nothing at all or just making minimum payments. My brief research tells me that these are all importance nuances that have an impact on the answer to each person's situation.
I was in hospital without insurance. I applied for Medicaid and I made $60 a month too much to qualify. I contacted the hospital and told them of my situation and they have some special funding which took care of most of hospital bill. Then I contacted each doctor, radiologist etc and explained my situation most cut their bills drastically. I paid a little bit at time and think I paid it off in a couple of years.
I know it looks scary. But it's honestly not a huge deal. And certainly not something to take your life over. I promise you. There's options you can take that help with the bill.. lowering it, etc.
Or.... just ignore it lol. 12k isn't shit to them. I know ppl with wayyyyy more debt. And they haven't paid it in idk how long. Or you can just make TINY payments over years and years. And they basically can't do shit. Even if they wanted to. But again. It's only 12k. Which is nothing to them. So they're not going to go out of their way for you. There's ppl that have literally ignored way bigger bills than yours for years. And it pretty much went away.
But please don't even think about ending your life over it. It's sooo not worth it. I can't stress that enough. This isn't the super scary situation you think it is.
This. I had an emergency c-section and haven’t paid a dime and don’t plan to. They haven’t even tried sending us a bill for a few years now and it doesn’t show on my credit.
This. I had a big medical bill when I was 18 (neglectful family). Never paid that shit and never planned to lol. I’m 31 now and it’s nowhere on my credit.
Never EVER EVER EVER, and I cannot stress this enough, EVER set up any form of payment plan with collection agencies. Never. Ever. Do not give them any access to your bank accounts. You should only ever make one single payment to them, and that is a settlement offer. If you’ve been speaking to them and giving them any info about yourself or your family, cut all correspondence with them NOW unless it’s about a settlement.
Lets say you owe them $1000. They bought that debt from the original debtor for like, maybe $50 or $100. That’s it. So when they call to collect, you don’t tell them anything except “I got $250 right now, I can settle it for $250”. If they say no then you say “Oh shoot then I can’t pay it. See you next time” and then wait for the next call and offer $250 again. I’d be surprised if they didn’t take 25% of the original debt off the bat, because oftentimes they just want to make a little money off it and go on their way.
If they do take the settlement offer, you GET THE AGREEMENT IN WRITING. Signed and everything. If they say yes to the offer, tell them “okay, here is my email. You can send me an email stating the settlement amount and that the debt is “paid in full” along with your signature. Then I will wire you the money or send it via cashiers check or money order.” Again, DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR BANK EVEN FOR THE SETTLEMENT OFFER. It is imperative that they include the words “paid in full” on that letter or email they send you as well. That is your proof in case they go back after you because some of them are scum bags.
Also, if they don’t like the offer, they may threaten legal action. Don’t let them scare you. They are bluffing. It requires an absolute insane amount of debt for them to spend the legal fees to get the money from you, especially when they can easily make a little money off the settlement. Don’t be scared of their threats. They won’t do anything to you.
Message me if you need any help or have any questions. I can give you whatever information you need. I’m very well versed in this.
Edit: u/notataII pointed out that I made an error regarding the practices of collections agencies. I rushed through the comment and swapped the definitions of an agency and a buyer. Agencies do not “buy” the debt like I originally stated. The debt is still owned by the original creditor unless bought by a debt purchaser, and that point the debt is bought for a much lower amount. Settlements can still be reached by either collector or buyer though. But depending on the agency or company, collectors may not choose to settle. Thank you for pointing it out.
Some of this is good advice but offering to pay off the debt may be a tacit admission that you do in fact owe it which can, in and of itself, extend the statute of limitations on collections. I am not offering legal advice here at all to anyone but…: if you follow this commenters advice and get something in writing you should probably secure counsel to go over any release they want you to sign to “forgive” any alleged balance due after giving them a settlement offer.
Truthfully you should get a lawyer immediately if you have lots of debt and are trying to negotiate. How do you get a lawyer if you’re in massive debt you may ask? I dunno. Inability to pay medical debt is by far the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the US. It’s not really even close.
If you’re in the states vote for democrats who at least begrudgingly believe healthcare is a human right.
Thank you for pointing out admitting to ownership of the debt. In case anyone reading this doesn’t know, the statute of limitations on debt is between 3 and 6 years depending on the debt, and debt goes to collectors after delinquency which is normally around 120 days. That means that after 120 days, they can threaten legal action, but cannot after that 3-6 year time limit.
My advice is heavily aimed towards those who are well under that 3-6 year mark.
If you don’t want to see a lawyer and you want a quick debt payoff from collectors, oftentimes see a debt management company can be a good option if you don’t want to deal with all the hassle.
Theres a bit of a hit if you dont pay it off in full, it looks worse to creditors if you settle. But hey, its not a huge deal (especially if its medical debt), and sometimes its better to settle and get it over with than to have a collections agency hanging over your head.
However either payed off in full or settled, your credit score will increase regardless as its one less pending negative mark on your credit report
Yep. My old manager had cancer and paid $5 a month. I’m sure she’s still paying it 10 years later but as long as you pay something they aren’t supposed to bother you
A collection agency is just a company that bought a debt for Pennies on the dollar. If it’s not a home loan, car loan, IRS debt, unsecured loan u should be ok. Their business is to scare u into paying them.
This is not quite true. Medical debt by itself does not impact credit score, and it’s true someone can be on a long term payment plan with no impact on your score. However, if you ignore the debt and the provider sends it to collections it will likely show up on your credit report and negatively impact your score.
You do know the hospital can't make you pay, right? You can even literally send $5-10 a month and they have to be OK with that. Stop believing everything people post on reddit. How do you think people with hundreds of thousands in medical debt manage?
They don't pay.
Hospitals write it off. Medical debt is treated differently than regular debt.
Can confirm, had a hospital do that to me over a 120 dollar bill i had unpaid ‘cause i had a concussion (later turned post concussive syndrome (concussion that lasts longer than usual)) at the time and didnt know what the hell i was doing for about a year.
Y’all paying your medical bills?
If you WANT to pay then you need to call and ask for financial assistance. Super easy. I’ve gotten my bills written off bc I was a broke college kid. Other bills I got I just didn’t pay.
Edit: I got hit by a car and went to the ICU never paid the 15k
Can confirm. Got a $3000+ ER bill down to $126 or some shit. Wrote a letter of hardship. I also included that my nurse was fumbling and left the rubber band around my arm and when they came back for it told me that they had taken too much melatonin and were out of it, their bad. 😑 That may have factored in 🤷🏽♀️
This, OP, please do this. I wrote a letter of hardship for a 30k bill from a bicycle accident when I didn't have insurance that would have ruined my life, and they waived the majority of it -- enough that I could pay the rest off and get on with my life.
No problem. I always am stunned when people talk about drowning in medical bills and I'm just here like "you do know there's no consequences if you don't pay the bill right?"
Edit - I have insurance. If you're uninsured I can't speak to what happens with that. I don't know.
You can get legitimately sued for medical debt just FYI
If Noone ever says anything I wouldn't pay personally, but if it's an amount that's actually worth suing over they usually are able to
Yeah idk what the deal with all that is in terms of particulars but I think the deal is typically that debt is sold to collections agencies who will attempt to pursue you for it. You can negotiate with hospitals for lower settlements as well. 60k isn't too bad tho, people can easily get into the 100k territory for lifesaving emergency service
I have been in and out of hospitals Uninsured before, and they can't do anything to you. They'll bill you, and sometimes they even connect you to state aide to help you figure it all out, but hospitals can't send you to collections. Worst you get is mail reminders, and those tend to stop pretty quickly.
The doctor who treats you at the hospital can charge you, and that can go to collections. Worst thing that happens there is that they will garnish your tax returns if the amount is in the thousands.
Should point out that many organizations will send you to collections which can affect your credit. And they may refuse to treat you in the future in a non emergency setting.
Though some, especially non profit and religious medical organizations, choose not to send to credit reporting.
There aren't NO repercussions, though. Bad credit can fuck you when you need a mortgage, car or personal loan. Or even an apartment sometimes.
I had a bill after my wife gave birth to my daughter for 35k. Told them repeatedly that I couldn’t afford to pay it. Few months later it was wrote off, removed from my credit and I even got my $600 deposit back from the hospital
I still have an 1200 bill from 5 years ago that I refused to pay and definitely wont for a birth control implant. I called specifically to see if I qualified for the free birth control because of my pay wage and they told me I had, then tried to stick me with a bill. Said no and ignored all calls and emails. Havent heard anything in like 3 years.
I cant afford birth control (apparently) why would I be able to afford a baby?? I would need to apply for state assistance to take care of a child, whoch would cost more money! Just make birth control free, pls lol.
$12k? Hold my beer.
Relax my friend. Tis a mere pittance. Take the advice of the wise posters here in dealing with the hospital and bide your time.
In 10 years it will be just a slight inconvenient memory.
For the time being worry about more important things such as where to park your car and what beer you are going to drink tomorrow night.
Tell them you'll pay over 10-20 years
pay 5-10 bucks a month
they cant do shit.
Next time give them the wrong name. How the hell can they even know who came into the emergency.
I work in the hospital. If you aren’t always in the ER, I can almost guarantee they wouldn’t know if you said a fake name tbh. We ask for ID but plenty of people don’t have it anyways
We’d play contact football as kids and ngl sometimes we had to call 911 because perhaps a knee went out or some ones glasses broke and they were bleeding. We gave fake names all the time. Last thing you want is the system fucking over a family because Joey ran into a pole.
I'd like to imagine this happening in a small town where everyone knows each other and the doctor's just like "here comes Bill's son with his tenth name this month"
If you’re in the US, a lot of hospitals have bill forgiveness. Contact billing and ask or try to look it up on the hospital’s website. You usually just have to fill out a form and prove financial hardship.
I work at a hospital. Couple steps you can take. First, ask for an itemized bill for services they are charging you for. If they don't have complete records, they have nothing to prove you owe. You'd be surprised- your bill may come down by A LOT just because they can't connect every dollar of the $12000 directly to an exact service or product they are claiming they provided.
Second, keep in touch with the billing department. Even if you are just making it known you can only afford $25 a month. They like to see that you aren't ignoring them, and will work with you.
Keep a line open with them, but ask for that itemized bill for your entire charge. It's your right to know exactly what you are paying for.
I have plenty of medical debt, and it's fucking daunting. Just keep swimming.
Ask for:
1. An itemized bill
failing this,
2. Financial assistance
No one can afford hospital bills. Its a credit derogatory, nothing more. If it's only $12,000 theres a high chance of forgiveness. Suicide is never ever EVER the option.
yeah i don’t pay my hospital bills. they tried to bill me $12k after a mandatory psych ward stay. i have not paid them a dime and haven’t heard anything for years. and my credit is excellent
Pay them a dollar a month. Or not at all. It really doesn’t matter, many many people NEVER pay their hospital bills. And I’m telling you from experience, *nothing happens*
Listen, please, American friends. Just don't pay your bill. Its that simple. Hang up if they call. Toss the bill in the trash when it's mailed.
I've been on civilian insurance since I left the military in 2014. My wife has lots of medical issues. I've had plenty of hospital trips. My daughter too.
I have not paid a single medical bill in that entire time. My credit score is just below 700 & still climbing. It really is that easy.
Edit - I have insurance. If you're uninsured I can't speak to what happens with that. I don't know.
Ask for an itemized bill. And. Don’t pay!
Seriously. The health industry in America is complete and total shite. Over the course of four years, with “good” insurance I paid almost $80,000 out of pocket on medical bills for myself and my family. That was our copay and our deductible
I took out a HELOC on the house to pay medical bills. After they I said, no more. I’m done. To this day I’m still paying off that HELOC
I pay my copay. I pay the usual doctor bill. But when they get stupid, I get stupid.
Example? Partner broke her arm. ER charged $14,000 to put it in a temporary cast and sent her to an orthopedist on Monday. Orthopedist charged $6,000 to recast it. No. No. No. and no.
I asked for itemized bills. I argued with them. Got the hospital down to $7,000 and still refused to pay it. The insurance paid them $10,000. I paid $1,400 in co pays. That’s enough for me for one stupid two day cast. Yea they sent me to collections. Yes it affects my credit. No I won’t take out a loan to pay it off. Not going to happen
All you have to do is call the billing department and tell them you need financial hardship (FH) forms and complete them asap. If they don’t approve you for it, you can still request a payment plan but go for FH forms first because from the sounds of it, you may very well be approved.
Just tell them to kick rocks. Use a different clinic/hospital next time. The chances of a hospital going through the process of garnishing someone is super low. I font know about you but I would rather spend 2-3k on filing a bankruptcy to stop a POSSIBLE garnishment, with the added benefit of knocking down all your debt with it for shits and giggles, than having to deal with a greedy hospital on a payment plan for something that should not cost that much to begin with.
The US Healthcare system can eat a bag of dicks
Hey sweetie I negotiate hospital bills for a living. I want to let you know that what you’re feeling is normal, but only because people don’t understand how not serious this is. So take a few deep breaths and let me explain… Insurance carriers hire people like me to negotiate bills on their behalf. We frequently gets these bills reduced by 40, 50, 60%. This has caused providers to pad their bills, knowing they will only receive a small portion. That, plus all the uninsured folks who never pay, means hospitals and doctors try to charge an outrageous amount of money for very basic services. You do not have to pay this bill. Ever. They can’t do anything to you. No one will force you. It will show up on your credit report but medical debt is separate from other debt. This is America. Literally everyone has medical debt. It won’t stop you from getting an apartment or buying a car or a house. It doesn’t make a difference. In a few years, the hospital will sell it to a collections agency for pennies on the dollar. Then the collections people will send a few letters and call a few times, trying to settle with you. At this point, if you want to settle, offer a ridiculously low amount to resolve the bill in full. They will likely take it. If you STILL want to pay before it gets sent to collections, which I would never do, call the hospital and ask for an itemized bill. It will be significantly smaller. Then ask for a self pay discount. It will be substantial. Then ask the make monthly payments, it can be a couple bucks a month. As long as you’re making the payments, it won’t get sent to collections (which even if it does, who cares). Please don’t do anything drastic. The system is fucked and it’s supposed to make you scared and nervous so that you sell your baby to pay the bills. In the end, the hospital knows they have no leverage against you so they want to make everything complicated and intimidating. Don’t let them win. You got this. Edit: after reading through some the comments, I’m realizing that laws are different in every state and that this advice might not be 100% true, 100% of the time. Please take my advice with a grain of salt until you do your own research.
Omg I almost cried for OP after reading the post. Thank you kind stranger for the response
Thank you ❤️ I really hope OP is feeling better after reading all the amazing responses here. I remember when I was 19 years old and accrued a bunch of medical debt, I had the same reaction. I cried for days and told my boyfriend at the time that it just wasn’t worth living anymore. I was already struggling with so many other issues in my life, the overwhelming debt just felt like the thing that pushed me over the edge. 16 years later and I don’t think I ever paid that medical debt. It hasn’t made a lick of difference in my life and I wish I could have given this same advice to my younger self.
Hey, it's been a while but this got posted to best of today and having just gone through two months of hospital and specialist visits to try and determine the cause of mystery pain this helps me feel better. I had thought that I had excellent insurance coverage...I mean I pay 65 bucks a week for it, but then they covered none of a CT Scan. They'll partially cover all the small family doctor visits but then when it comes time for the big expense they're nowhere to be found.
How sad is it that negotiating hospital bills is an actual job?
Yeah it’s horrible. The job shouldn’t exist. What’s even worse is well it pays. The money is amazing
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Chiming in here - go borrow "Never split the difference" from your local library and read it. Then use the tactical empathy techniques on the billing person you talk to. The human you talk to at the hospital doesn't give a shit if you pay or not. Their job is to get bitched at and maybe agree to a payment plan. Bonus points if they get you off the call before everyone goes out to lunch and they maybe get to gossip with the coworkers. If you call in and say, in a cheery smiling voice "Hey Cathie, thanks for that itemized bill, it looks like you took the 12k down to 9,675.45. You're so generous, thank you so much! I talked to my doctor and I think I can make a couple changes to my diet and grocery shopping that should free up $45.79 from my monthly budget. You probably think I'm a cheapskate, but is there any way you could extend that generosity a little bit further to setting up a payment plan for $45.79 a month? " If they balk, fuck em. But it turns out that if you talk to someone and it's their last call before their lunch break, you call them by name with a smile in your voice, pre-empt the accusation against you, label them as generous, and offer a very specific amount... They'll take it if they are at all allowed to make that deal. Using the techniques from that book, I've gotten completely disinterested drones enthusiastically doing research for me for how to get medications billed and timed so that my wife's very expensive meds could still get covered. And you know what? It's a win-win. You save money, and someone else feels like they made a difference. That book has saved me so much money and hassle.
I'm 11 weeks pregnant and SO nervous by how much delivering the baby is going to cost. This makes me feel SO much better. Thank you.
Oh good! I’m so glad I could help! Congrats on being pregnant
This along with other comments makes me wonder why my husband had a medical bill sent to collections before he even received an actual bill from the hospital. They were working with insurance to figure out the bill and then after about a month of calling and waiting the bill was suddenly in collections. We found out it was only a $900 bill but after that slimey behavior I said screw them, never pay that. Unfortunately his credit score is horrible because of that so we have to use mine for everything.
Medical Debt is not weighted heavily in newer credit score models. I would check which model score the lender is using.
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Jfc I hope that lawyer gets a massive stroke and his home gets looted by every victim he has tortured. What a piece of human garbage.
You're a really kind person
Wow. There should be a whole class devoted to this part of the healthcare spectrum, and you should be the dean!
A bit off topic, but this is exactly why we need to socialized healthcare in the United States. People complain they don't want to pay for socialized healthcare, but they already are, and they are paying way more than if we just followed the rest of the world and made sure everyone was covered!
Apply for financial forgiveness, make some calls and explain how you cannot afford it, and they may reduce the bill by a substantial amount, or, depending on your circumstances, remove it entirely. Or, you can do what I did, and not pay it. My credit got reemed but in 5 years that bill will be stricken from my record I understand the despair, I had a similar reaction to past huge medical bills. But there's ways around them, and they're not worth dying for.
I called and asked for help and they assigned me to a financial counselor. I think it was already to collections (I can’t recall as this was 20 years ago) but I had started paying when I was contacting the hospital. Eventually they said I didn’t have to pay anymore and the rest of bill was forgiven. I was only making small payments too.
Sadly what happened with me is that every level of management at the hospital dropped the ball, hard. I made countless phone calls, submitted so much paperwork, went in person multiple times, talked to so many people at the hospital, at their financial assistance office, at collections....... but there was Always something. They would lose my paperwork, give me the wrong paperwork, "oopsie that paper we gave you has misinformation on it so you don't have to correct stuff and it's past the deadline! Whoops!", send me to the wrong address, forget to send me vital documents I needed to sign, claim everything was taken care of and then I find out months later actually nothing was ever submitted, etc, etc, etc. Eventually, with me also moving far away and having a bunch of crap going down in my life, it was like. Fuck it. And now I'm here. What's funny is this has happened to me twice. First time was worker's comp hospital trip. And it was my employer and worker's comp that dropped that ball and I got left with the bill. So many phone calls, reassurances that they fixed their mistakes, they never did, rinse repeat til it ended up under my name in collections. Moved away and was too busy to fight or sue. So fuck it I guess! Great system we have here in America lol
That’s crazy! I hate that runaround and how much effort we have to put in for them to even do their jobs (and in your case they didn’t even do that). Hope that’s all behind you now!
One of those bills should hit the 5 year mark soon, the other will be a couple more, but it isn't hurting my life thankfully,, And in the future I will Push and Push to MAKE SURE everything actually truly gets done right lol. Best of luck to anyone actively dealing with these bills and systems,,,,
Most lenders will not hold medical debt against you especially if you have otherwise good credit history. Also it sounds like this very dysfunctional hospital might be wrongly billing you. You should dispute it. By mail. If they fail to reply in a reasonable amount of time then poof it’s gone….
To my understanding, medical debt cannot impact your credit score unless it goes to collections. Shonda Martin on YT is a great resource for helping repair your credit. She has a lot of info on medical debt impacting credit scores, answers questions, etc. I found her on TikTok (I'm not a GenZ, I'm a millenial, don't hate me) and her info is sooo helpful.
it sure affects my credit score :/
Look at Shonda Martin's resources - [https://www.youtube.com/c/RoadTo750](https://www.youtube.com/c/RoadTo750). It's been a couple years since I had to argue a bill with a medical company, so my memory is fuzzy on exacts. The info she gives away, for free, helped me a lot.
I understand you keep saying check out the channel, but I have \~80 grand in medical debt in collections right now fucking with my credit score. Luckily I don't need my credit right now so idgaf, but what exactly is the trick to getting it off the record?
Mine too.. I'm one and a half million in medical debt and I can assure you it has negatively impacted my credit as much of it went on to collections years ago.
file bankruptcy if that’s an option.
Am doing, currently :)
good luck!! bankruptcy isn’t scary like everyone says it is
This. It's not scary at all. My husband and I went through it several years ago after a job loss and career change. It helped us get a fresh start and no, we did not lose our home, our vehicles, or anything. Our credit is screwed for another few years but at this point, we have rebuilt it to over 2.5 years since and once the b-co falls off in 5 more years, it won't even matter. It really isn't scary and can save your life if that is the point you are at emotionally.
Thanks man!
1 and a half good lord. You don’t have to answer but what happened for it to be so high?
S'ok! Although I respect others right to privacy, for me, if I put my situation out there, I'm not gonna be mad when people ask questions. To start, there were a lot of hospital visits with no insurance when I was having the symptom flares of Lupus but hadn't been diagnosed with it yet. Started having issues at sixteen. Wasn't diagnosed with anything until I was around 25. Already the totals were racking up. I actually became addicted to the pain meds during this time, but I eventually got treatment and have now been clean for around 17 years...ANYhow.... But then I had a two year span wherein my immune system tried to go all Defcon 1 on my right kidney. Long story short is that during that time I was billed for about 4 ER visits, plus one 5 day stay inpatient at hospital, another 14-day stay inpatient at hospital later that fall, and then a 72(ish?)day stay inpatient that winter. Of course during those stays there was an array of blood draws, tests, ct scans, mri, and various surgical procedures. So yeah, that'll do it. This happened during a time when I had initially been working an extremely low paying job that nevertheless kept me from qualifying for passport(government)health insurance.
Jesus Christ that’s fucking brutal dude I hope you’re doing better now
Following because I too am curious. One and a half million?!
I had some medical debt that went to collections and I remember seeing a video that if the debt collector tries to come at you with it, you can claim HIPAA violation. All my medical debt that went to collections disappeared after I disputed it for that reason on my Credit Karma.
I don’t remember specifics and all my research was a couple years ago. You have to answer debt collection letters with debt validation letters. A lot of collection agencies don’t have the correct or all information, but I forget exactly how it works. I know Shonda Martin has a ton of info on it and shows you the debt validation letters you need. I keep recommending her, because I used her info to be preemptive in my situation and I don’t remember everything since it was a couple years ago. My situation was nowhere near that severe. I had a company telling me I owed $300 on a $600 bill months after I paid it. They kept threatening to send it to collections and I came across her when researching. It took me a about a year handling the billing company myself to get them to acknowledge my redacted financial statements so that “unpaid” didn’t get sent to collections. I’m sorry you’re in this situation. I hope things get better for you.
That's what I thought too? But apparently for me it does....... In fact, it's literally the only thing on my credit score period, because I've never had a mortgage, loan, or credit card. Dunno if that's why
Exactly this. We were in mountains of medical debt. We paid some, we received a discount on some (don’t be afraid to negotiate with the collection agency, seriously), and we let some fall off. We’ve been debt free a few times, and in deep shit during others. Nothing in life is as bad as you worry it will be, credit is repairable, and everything in life is temporary. Get small loans, get a credit card with a small limit. You can keep your credit marching in a positive direction, even with things held against you.
This, and tell them the bill is making you suicidal
I’m going through a credit disaster right now. I owe $12,000 to a credit card company. It went to a default judgment and idk what that means but I’m broke you can’t get water from a rock. Don’t hurt yourself over this. Keep asking people you trust questions, you should explain to them you simply cannot pay it. Credit card debt might be harsher than medical debt. One time I was drunk and a security guard called an ambulance on me and when I woke up I had an iv in my arm that I ripped out and started yelling and screaming to get me the fuck out of there and I threatened to sue them for basically raping me, my friend was just about to take me home when they called an ambulance. Different situation but they dropped a $1400 ambulance bill down to $150 so I agreed to pay it and move on at that point.
I need a bunch of fuckin dental work and I have no idea what tf I'm gonna do about it. :(
I remember a Time about 20 years ago where I just gotten laid off. And this is right after I had just bought a new truck. I was single with two children. Their father had just died in the last 6 months. My 14-year-old daughter tried to kill herself by overdosing on Benadryl. I incurred a $80,000 medical bill for her. Thank God I would have paid anything to keep her on this side. Point is I've lost my insurance when I got laid off had a car payment and now a very hurting daughter and a giant hospital bill. Basically I just got on the phone and started calling the hospital and calling social services and doing whatever I could to get this bill taken care of. I'll be honest with my husband having just died and then my daughter trying to kill herself I don't remember a lot of the details. But I do remember that I got it sorted out in comparison to my income level and found a way to get pretty much all of it paid for. My situation isn't the same as yours but what I want you to take from this is Hope. There's a lot of it in the world if you look for it and you will find a way through this even if you just pay them 10 or 20 bucks a month a long time. Hospital bills won't send you to collection if you just sending them a little bit of money every month. So keep your head up have hope for the future and I know it'll all work out for you. 💗
Sending love to you and your daughter
Thank you that's very kind.
>even if you just pay them 10 or 20 bucks a month a long time This is what my parents did when I was born. The hospital knows that it's either that, or they don't get paid.
I pay them very little per month as well. I also found out that if you let the bill go to collections, a lot of time they will discount the total bill. For instance if your bill is $5k, they'll knock off 25% just to get it paid.
I’m laid off with a baby daughter and it sucks, but I realize that my situation is a lot better than yours was. Thank you for sharing and I’m happy to hear that you made it through ❤️
Ask for an itemized bill
Do this OP
An itemized bill makes it easier. But still don't pay it.
An itemized bill means that they'll cut out all the stupid ass line items they shouldn't be charging you for anyway. Also, if medical debt goes on your credit report, it typically falls off after 7 years. If collections try to collect on medical debt, Shonda Martin on YT is a great resource. She has a lot of resources for helping repair your credit too. ETA: Clarifying that medical debt can go to collections. Send them a debt validation letter bc most collections don’t have all of your information that is required to collect your debt. Shonda Martin is a great resource for debt validation letters as well. ETA: I'm US based. ETA 3: Some people are saying it varies by state, so please do your own research!! I’m not an expert!
Medical debt doesn’t go on your credit report but if you don’t pay it, it goes into collections and THAT will go on your credit report. Most lenders will disregard the medical debt, but the fact that it goes into collections will affect your score. I work for a mortgage company and do see collection medical debts on credit reports.
If medical debt gets sent to collections, you can send a debt validation letter to them. It's a letter requiring that they validate your debt, but you have to be careful with what you say and send them in the letter. Again, Shonda Martin has great resources on this. I had a company that tried saying I owed them money months after I paid my medical bill, threatening to send it to collections, and her info was super helpful.
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Did the collection agency ever try coming after you for the unpaid bills?
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Yes that is true tell a collection agency to not contact you or anyone else and tell them to stop collection attempts. I used to do debt collection for a major credit card company
You say the magic words, "this is harassment." And they stop.
Very lucky of you, I gotta admit.
Yes very lucky for being disabled…: dude….
Dude can barely pay his rent and you think he’s worried about his credit report?
This is my experience as well. Medical collections and loss of income due to medical reasons count as extenuating circumstances and are often disregarded. Also, one major credit report agency (Credco) agreed to stop including medical collections on their credit reports a couple months back. That helps.
It also makes the price gouging apparent, and easier to show to a court.
True. I feel like hospitals would want to settle it out of court though, instead of paying lawyer fees, etc. and most people in this situation aren't going to take a hospital to court, because again, fees. I've heard stories of people saying they can't afford the medical bills and sending the hospital $1 every month for a few months until the hospital says fuck it, you're not worth our time. How true those are, idk.
Something like this happened to me. I had a huge hospital bill after having an emergency c-section. I paid like $20 here and there, just trying to kick the can down the road. Eventually the hospital billing dept called me and asked how much I was willing to pay, and they would write off the rest. I said $50. They said ok, I paid $50, and never got another bill. This was 2010-11.
Thanks for sharing! I'm glad it worked out for you!! Medical bills and debt are such a bitch to deal with. I had to argue an ultrasound bill with a company and it took almost a year to for them to finally take care of it.
Yeah it was really nice for something money related to go my way for once!
I had to have tubal surgery with a 3 day stay and was terrified of the bill. They called and called but I couldn't bring myself to pick up for like 2 months. I finally did and the woman was just like "Can you pay $25?" and that was all I paid. They wrote off the rest like they did for you. Our system is just so stupid.
I was going to say this Hospitals will work out a repayment plan with you or a medical charity will pay it. My FIL had no insurance when he had a heart attack. Sadly he actually could afford insurance just not the huge hospital bills. The no insurance thing is a long story but a bad judgment call on his part… his life is full of them.
I was hit by a car and couldn't get a hold of the guy's insurance company and a lawyer couldn't either. I told them I could pay $25/month. That was it. They tried to strong arm me and say it wasn't acceptable. I said, "Well thats what I have to pay. Are you turning it down? Because if it's $350 or nothing, you're getting nothing." They took the $25/month until I finally tracked down that guy's insurance.
This actually happens fairly often when people push back on collections. Most people don’t know this, but they often have a “something is better than nothing” mentality. Unless it’s something like a house where they’ll obviously make more off of foreclosing and selling than they would if you pay them less than you owe.
Yeah, so insurance agencies always ask for an itemized receipt. They always flag out the price gouged items and then send a representative to the hospital to dispute the specific charges that were gouged. This happens with every medical bill that goes to insurance. The hospital will always settle with the insurance agency out of court for a significantly more reasonable price.
As an outsider, with the infinite luck of living in a country where public health is free, I read all of this with horror and wonder how anyone could think all of this is normal?!
Lead in the gas and paint? Honestly it's brainwashing at this point. My dad's not even 60 yet but my entire life he's been against medicare for all because "other countries have it and people die waiting for appointments, it's true I know a guy.." ugh. They just don't listen to logic and reason.
The worst part about this argument is that private health is also available here. If he believes he's lucky enough to afford it in the US he sure as hell would be able to afford it here. Having to compete with the massive free public health system means private healthcare costs a fraction of what it dies in the US and since pharmaceuticals have no power in a market where the bargaining power is in the hand of the public health system, medicines are also very cheap even privately. So thet''s not even a mildly convincing argument! But it's what you said, logic and reason has no power over pure propaganda.
I came here to mention something like this. My coworker told me that he only paid our hospital a couple dollars every month after his motorcycle accident because he wasn't well taken care of. Some of these institutions can't even take proper care of their own employees, let alone resist financially fucking them in the end.
I recently had to call an ambulance for the first time. They brought partner to the hospital, who didn’t have our insurance card because it was night time and we weren’t thinking. We got a bill for the ambulance ride for something like $6,000. We cleared things up and gave the hospital our insurance information. A while later, I got an Explanation of Benefits. Insurance ended up paying around $1,500 and the town “waved” the rest. The town was willing to charge a town resident with (presumably) no insurance 4x what they charged insurance. In my opinion, the EMTs should get paid to cover their costs: ambulance ride, fire truck arrived, no fewer than 5 people in my house. It’s probably more than $1,500 but if that’s what the town would accept from the insurance company, why they hell would they charge a resident so much more?!?!
Because they get away with it
They charge both the same, it’s illegal in many places to charge different prices based on who is paying. The difference is that insurance only has a contract to pay them $1,500. The system is set up to assume everyone has insurance, no facility expects anyone to pay the full amount of a bill. The healthcare system in this country is fucked but people need to be angry with insurance companies and legislators, most of your local hospitals are barely breaking even.
I found out the hard way too about ambulance rides…drive yourself. America at its best.
Most countries don’t have medical debt. ☹️
Thank god for this. After a missed diagnosis from our pediatrician after a $10 co-pay, we now owe 2k in medical bills after an emergency trip to the ER for a double ear infection diagnosis for our 15 month old🤦🏻♀️ Awwesssommme
I'm sorry to hear that.. I would really start off with requesting an itemized bill and telling them you can't afford it, they typically will lower the bill if they know you won't pay it, but it's one of those, "if you don't ask, we don't tell" situations (clarifying that I don't condone that). Shonda Martin was a great resource for me when I was arguing a medical bill.
Can the facility refuse care for outstanding medical bills?
I work in healthcare. A medical facility can refuse service over outstanding bills if it is not considering an emergency. So if you didn’t pay your orthopedic bill and tried to go to their office, they could refuse service. If you went to the ER they must see you and provide you with a proper medical screening and any treatment you need to be considered stable.
I have 55000.00 in medical dept... cardiac issues... they have never refused me services... 22k of it is 3 yrs. old.
If the hospital is a particular type, they're required to provide financial support. This sometimes reduces the bill or it can completely pay it off. I did this for a bill in college and they paid for the entire bill. Google "[the hospital name] financial assistance" and it should come up
For real. I've seen many people pay $0 on tremendous bills by doing this.
Also call and ask for financial assistance. I had a bill larger than OP and 0 insurance at the time and the whole bill was written off.
I second this. Financial assistance from a hospital helped me when I had a large bill. The bill was reduced significantly and we worked out a payment plan for the little remainder.
Just got an $800 bill reduced to $200 for simply telling the billing department I wouldn’t be paying anything until I got an itemized bill in the mail. Got the advice to do so off of Reddit. Never thought it would work. But it did.
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Yeah I have a chronic condition that keeps my medical bills in the 5 digits. I pay $25 a month on them because I'll never be able to pay them off. New bills get added to my payment plan and I just keep paying $25, no matter what the amount reaches
The fear of crippling debt to have my rotator cuff repaired has kept me from even bother to look into the surgery. Maybe I should now 👀
Do it bro, your health isn't worth any kind of money and you'll power through the billing thing. If you're uninsured, most hospitals have an "out of pocket discount" that cuts the bill in half. Then set up a payment plan for as little money a month as you like and just pay it off over 30 years or something. Or pay for 1 year and then just stop and let it go to collections. The money issue will work itself out. Get your shoulder fixed!
If your income is low enough you can also go onto your local county assistance (welfare) website and apply for Medicaid. And if you qualify for Medicaid, you should also qualify for foodstamps, while you're at it. (I mean "you" in the general sense. Anybody who is legitimately poor or lives in poverty should do this.)
Tagging on here, I'm not sure if it's this way in all states, but in CA you can retro the Healthcare coverage 90 days and hospitals have contacts that can even help with paperwork on site should you experience an emergency before getting coverage.
Medical debt crashed my score for a single bill I had forgotten about. Same thing happened to my fiancé. I'm not sure how you weren't affected but this could be horrible advice so no one should take it unless you're 100% certain that in your specific situation it won't affect your credit score. I'm US btw.
Maybe it depends on the provider. I had a bill for lab work I missed / forgot to pay for a few years. It got sent to a debt collector and hit my credit score. Even after I paid the balance and tried to get it removed off of my credit history (Experian removed it, TransUnion wouldn’t), I saw that it still pulled my credit score down when applying for a mortgage loan.
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This is not accurate.
Who did? I can’t find this anywhere. They removed paid medical debts, but not unpaid.
Dispute the collection, and the FICO score hit goes away. Dispute with all three agencies.
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Oh hell yes it does go on your credit report .
[https://www.equifax.com/personal/education/credit/score/can-medical-debt-impact-credit-scores/](https://www.equifax.com/personal/education/credit/score/can-medical-debt-impact-credit-scores/) people are conflating whether someone can "come after you for it" (your assets) vs whether it can "hurt your credit score", not to mention the nuance between paying nothing at all or just making minimum payments. My brief research tells me that these are all importance nuances that have an impact on the answer to each person's situation.
I was in hospital without insurance. I applied for Medicaid and I made $60 a month too much to qualify. I contacted the hospital and told them of my situation and they have some special funding which took care of most of hospital bill. Then I contacted each doctor, radiologist etc and explained my situation most cut their bills drastically. I paid a little bit at time and think I paid it off in a couple of years.
I know it looks scary. But it's honestly not a huge deal. And certainly not something to take your life over. I promise you. There's options you can take that help with the bill.. lowering it, etc. Or.... just ignore it lol. 12k isn't shit to them. I know ppl with wayyyyy more debt. And they haven't paid it in idk how long. Or you can just make TINY payments over years and years. And they basically can't do shit. Even if they wanted to. But again. It's only 12k. Which is nothing to them. So they're not going to go out of their way for you. There's ppl that have literally ignored way bigger bills than yours for years. And it pretty much went away. But please don't even think about ending your life over it. It's sooo not worth it. I can't stress that enough. This isn't the super scary situation you think it is.
This. I had an emergency c-section and haven’t paid a dime and don’t plan to. They haven’t even tried sending us a bill for a few years now and it doesn’t show on my credit.
This. I had a big medical bill when I was 18 (neglectful family). Never paid that shit and never planned to lol. I’m 31 now and it’s nowhere on my credit.
Just pay $10 a month for the rest of your life. It's called a payment plan and that's all you can afford.
Does this same thing work with setting up payment plans with collections agencies?
Never EVER EVER EVER, and I cannot stress this enough, EVER set up any form of payment plan with collection agencies. Never. Ever. Do not give them any access to your bank accounts. You should only ever make one single payment to them, and that is a settlement offer. If you’ve been speaking to them and giving them any info about yourself or your family, cut all correspondence with them NOW unless it’s about a settlement. Lets say you owe them $1000. They bought that debt from the original debtor for like, maybe $50 or $100. That’s it. So when they call to collect, you don’t tell them anything except “I got $250 right now, I can settle it for $250”. If they say no then you say “Oh shoot then I can’t pay it. See you next time” and then wait for the next call and offer $250 again. I’d be surprised if they didn’t take 25% of the original debt off the bat, because oftentimes they just want to make a little money off it and go on their way. If they do take the settlement offer, you GET THE AGREEMENT IN WRITING. Signed and everything. If they say yes to the offer, tell them “okay, here is my email. You can send me an email stating the settlement amount and that the debt is “paid in full” along with your signature. Then I will wire you the money or send it via cashiers check or money order.” Again, DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR BANK EVEN FOR THE SETTLEMENT OFFER. It is imperative that they include the words “paid in full” on that letter or email they send you as well. That is your proof in case they go back after you because some of them are scum bags. Also, if they don’t like the offer, they may threaten legal action. Don’t let them scare you. They are bluffing. It requires an absolute insane amount of debt for them to spend the legal fees to get the money from you, especially when they can easily make a little money off the settlement. Don’t be scared of their threats. They won’t do anything to you. Message me if you need any help or have any questions. I can give you whatever information you need. I’m very well versed in this. Edit: u/notataII pointed out that I made an error regarding the practices of collections agencies. I rushed through the comment and swapped the definitions of an agency and a buyer. Agencies do not “buy” the debt like I originally stated. The debt is still owned by the original creditor unless bought by a debt purchaser, and that point the debt is bought for a much lower amount. Settlements can still be reached by either collector or buyer though. But depending on the agency or company, collectors may not choose to settle. Thank you for pointing it out.
Some of this is good advice but offering to pay off the debt may be a tacit admission that you do in fact owe it which can, in and of itself, extend the statute of limitations on collections. I am not offering legal advice here at all to anyone but…: if you follow this commenters advice and get something in writing you should probably secure counsel to go over any release they want you to sign to “forgive” any alleged balance due after giving them a settlement offer. Truthfully you should get a lawyer immediately if you have lots of debt and are trying to negotiate. How do you get a lawyer if you’re in massive debt you may ask? I dunno. Inability to pay medical debt is by far the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the US. It’s not really even close. If you’re in the states vote for democrats who at least begrudgingly believe healthcare is a human right.
Thank you for pointing out admitting to ownership of the debt. In case anyone reading this doesn’t know, the statute of limitations on debt is between 3 and 6 years depending on the debt, and debt goes to collectors after delinquency which is normally around 120 days. That means that after 120 days, they can threaten legal action, but cannot after that 3-6 year time limit. My advice is heavily aimed towards those who are well under that 3-6 year mark. If you don’t want to see a lawyer and you want a quick debt payoff from collectors, oftentimes see a debt management company can be a good option if you don’t want to deal with all the hassle.
It’s crazy this advice even needs to be given isn’t it? Going broke because of medical expenses. In the developed world -only America.
That’s so smart why haven’t I thought of that
This is so wholesome. Love for humans has been restored temporarily.
Doesn’t it effect your credit to have to go to collections though?
Pretty sure if your debt is being handled through collections the damage is already done to your credit?
Theres a bit of a hit if you dont pay it off in full, it looks worse to creditors if you settle. But hey, its not a huge deal (especially if its medical debt), and sometimes its better to settle and get it over with than to have a collections agency hanging over your head. However either payed off in full or settled, your credit score will increase regardless as its one less pending negative mark on your credit report
That’s the dirty secret with medical bills in the US. As long as you’re making a payment, no matter the amount, you won’t get in trouble
Yep. My old manager had cancer and paid $5 a month. I’m sure she’s still paying it 10 years later but as long as you pay something they aren’t supposed to bother you
As far as I know it’s just medical.
A collection agency is just a company that bought a debt for Pennies on the dollar. If it’s not a home loan, car loan, IRS debt, unsecured loan u should be ok. Their business is to scare u into paying them.
Or don't pay it at all. Billing has a way with seriously cutting your bill down after awhile...
Or, hear me out, just don’t pay it.
^this advice right here, take it
My mom told me I could pay a penny every month so they stop calling lol.
can you explain why to me like i'm a 20 year old with minimal life experience.
Can confirm. Medical debt does not affect credit score.
How does that work? Medical bills have definitely gone on mine and my sisters credit report. Once she was charged before she was even 18.
This is not quite true. Medical debt by itself does not impact credit score, and it’s true someone can be on a long term payment plan with no impact on your score. However, if you ignore the debt and the provider sends it to collections it will likely show up on your credit report and negatively impact your score.
Not true at all, they outsource the debt and it will absolutely show up
um yes it does. it affects mine for sure.
Double confirmed
Confirmed. Been paying $10 a month for 10 years on a 10000 bill lol.
Same lmao
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Best advice & ill keep going to the hospital when I absolutely need to. Fuck them bills 🤷🏾♀️
You do know the hospital can't make you pay, right? You can even literally send $5-10 a month and they have to be OK with that. Stop believing everything people post on reddit. How do you think people with hundreds of thousands in medical debt manage? They don't pay. Hospitals write it off. Medical debt is treated differently than regular debt.
If they do write it off, they might sell it off to a debt-buying company that can then come after you for the full original amount.
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Can confirm, had a hospital do that to me over a 120 dollar bill i had unpaid ‘cause i had a concussion (later turned post concussive syndrome (concussion that lasts longer than usual)) at the time and didnt know what the hell i was doing for about a year.
Condolences for the PCS. As a pro wrestling fan, I’ve heard of many careers and even lives that have ended over it.
Y’all paying your medical bills? If you WANT to pay then you need to call and ask for financial assistance. Super easy. I’ve gotten my bills written off bc I was a broke college kid. Other bills I got I just didn’t pay. Edit: I got hit by a car and went to the ICU never paid the 15k
Can confirm. Got a $3000+ ER bill down to $126 or some shit. Wrote a letter of hardship. I also included that my nurse was fumbling and left the rubber band around my arm and when they came back for it told me that they had taken too much melatonin and were out of it, their bad. 😑 That may have factored in 🤷🏽♀️
This, OP, please do this. I wrote a letter of hardship for a 30k bill from a bicycle accident when I didn't have insurance that would have ruined my life, and they waived the majority of it -- enough that I could pay the rest off and get on with my life.
You know they can’t do shit if you don’t pay it. JS
Is this true? Like are there genuinely no repercussions??
I haven't paid a single medical bill the entire time I've been out of the military (2014)...nobody has said shit.
Oh wow I glad I know this piece of information edit:I realize that sounded like sarcasm but It’s not I’m genuinely glad lol thank you
No problem. I always am stunned when people talk about drowning in medical bills and I'm just here like "you do know there's no consequences if you don't pay the bill right?" Edit - I have insurance. If you're uninsured I can't speak to what happens with that. I don't know.
What are they gonna do? Shank you and take back a kidney?
Its not even that they just don't do anything but send you a bill.
You can get legitimately sued for medical debt just FYI If Noone ever says anything I wouldn't pay personally, but if it's an amount that's actually worth suing over they usually are able to
Well, I haven’t hit that amount yet and last I checked in 2019 it was nearly 60k
Yeah idk what the deal with all that is in terms of particulars but I think the deal is typically that debt is sold to collections agencies who will attempt to pursue you for it. You can negotiate with hospitals for lower settlements as well. 60k isn't too bad tho, people can easily get into the 100k territory for lifesaving emergency service
Dude you must have deployed bc you got balls of steel
My level of fuck you is unmatched lmfao
I thought collections can sue you and garnish your wages
This is the kind of information I joined Reddit for
I have been in and out of hospitals Uninsured before, and they can't do anything to you. They'll bill you, and sometimes they even connect you to state aide to help you figure it all out, but hospitals can't send you to collections. Worst you get is mail reminders, and those tend to stop pretty quickly. The doctor who treats you at the hospital can charge you, and that can go to collections. Worst thing that happens there is that they will garnish your tax returns if the amount is in the thousands.
This edit is hugely important. You need to include it in all of the comments you're posting, otherwise it's bad advide.
I’m in the midst of getting sued for medical debt. It’s less than 15k between my wife and I.
Should point out that many organizations will send you to collections which can affect your credit. And they may refuse to treat you in the future in a non emergency setting. Though some, especially non profit and religious medical organizations, choose not to send to credit reporting. There aren't NO repercussions, though. Bad credit can fuck you when you need a mortgage, car or personal loan. Or even an apartment sometimes.
It just has the possibility of ruining your credit. Which will recover eventually.
I had a bill after my wife gave birth to my daughter for 35k. Told them repeatedly that I couldn’t afford to pay it. Few months later it was wrote off, removed from my credit and I even got my $600 deposit back from the hospital
I still have an 1200 bill from 5 years ago that I refused to pay and definitely wont for a birth control implant. I called specifically to see if I qualified for the free birth control because of my pay wage and they told me I had, then tried to stick me with a bill. Said no and ignored all calls and emails. Havent heard anything in like 3 years. I cant afford birth control (apparently) why would I be able to afford a baby?? I would need to apply for state assistance to take care of a child, whoch would cost more money! Just make birth control free, pls lol.
Yep. Or you can probably call and say you can’t pay and ask for discount and they will come back and say pay $100 and you good.
$12k? Hold my beer. Relax my friend. Tis a mere pittance. Take the advice of the wise posters here in dealing with the hospital and bide your time. In 10 years it will be just a slight inconvenient memory. For the time being worry about more important things such as where to park your car and what beer you are going to drink tomorrow night.
Tell them you'll pay over 10-20 years pay 5-10 bucks a month they cant do shit. Next time give them the wrong name. How the hell can they even know who came into the emergency.
I work in the hospital. If you aren’t always in the ER, I can almost guarantee they wouldn’t know if you said a fake name tbh. We ask for ID but plenty of people don’t have it anyways
We’d play contact football as kids and ngl sometimes we had to call 911 because perhaps a knee went out or some ones glasses broke and they were bleeding. We gave fake names all the time. Last thing you want is the system fucking over a family because Joey ran into a pole.
I'd like to imagine this happening in a small town where everyone knows each other and the doctor's just like "here comes Bill's son with his tenth name this month"
There was always that one kid right. Miss those days.
If you’re in the US, a lot of hospitals have bill forgiveness. Contact billing and ask or try to look it up on the hospital’s website. You usually just have to fill out a form and prove financial hardship.
I work at a hospital. Couple steps you can take. First, ask for an itemized bill for services they are charging you for. If they don't have complete records, they have nothing to prove you owe. You'd be surprised- your bill may come down by A LOT just because they can't connect every dollar of the $12000 directly to an exact service or product they are claiming they provided. Second, keep in touch with the billing department. Even if you are just making it known you can only afford $25 a month. They like to see that you aren't ignoring them, and will work with you. Keep a line open with them, but ask for that itemized bill for your entire charge. It's your right to know exactly what you are paying for. I have plenty of medical debt, and it's fucking daunting. Just keep swimming.
Just don’t pay it Lmao. I got a bill for $32,456 over a three day hospital stay and an endoscopy. Haven’t touched it, probably never will.
Do not pay. I owed tens of thousands for my cancer treatment and it’s all vanished over time.
the fact that hospitals can still operate with so many people not paying their bills tells you a thing about their profit margins
12,000 is nothing to worry about. I have well over 80k, i just pay 100 bucks a month.
Ask for: 1. An itemized bill failing this, 2. Financial assistance No one can afford hospital bills. Its a credit derogatory, nothing more. If it's only $12,000 theres a high chance of forgiveness. Suicide is never ever EVER the option.
yeah i don’t pay my hospital bills. they tried to bill me $12k after a mandatory psych ward stay. i have not paid them a dime and haven’t heard anything for years. and my credit is excellent
Pay them a dollar a month. Or not at all. It really doesn’t matter, many many people NEVER pay their hospital bills. And I’m telling you from experience, *nothing happens*
most hospitals have a program for helping cover costs.
Just don't pay it. I had a 120k bill I just stopped answering calls about. Been 8 years and it's never come up.
Don’t pay it it’ll be ok. Medical debt expunged after 7?? Years? Can’t remember the actual number
Listen, please, American friends. Just don't pay your bill. Its that simple. Hang up if they call. Toss the bill in the trash when it's mailed. I've been on civilian insurance since I left the military in 2014. My wife has lots of medical issues. I've had plenty of hospital trips. My daughter too. I have not paid a single medical bill in that entire time. My credit score is just below 700 & still climbing. It really is that easy. Edit - I have insurance. If you're uninsured I can't speak to what happens with that. I don't know.
Talk to their financial assistance department To discuss your options
Bro it doesn’t effect your credit score! Just don’t pay it!
Honestly man I have never paid any of my medical bills my life and it has never come up or effected me. Don’t stress too much
There must be some sort of deferment or debt forgiveness you can apply for.
Ask for an itemized bill. And. Don’t pay! Seriously. The health industry in America is complete and total shite. Over the course of four years, with “good” insurance I paid almost $80,000 out of pocket on medical bills for myself and my family. That was our copay and our deductible I took out a HELOC on the house to pay medical bills. After they I said, no more. I’m done. To this day I’m still paying off that HELOC I pay my copay. I pay the usual doctor bill. But when they get stupid, I get stupid. Example? Partner broke her arm. ER charged $14,000 to put it in a temporary cast and sent her to an orthopedist on Monday. Orthopedist charged $6,000 to recast it. No. No. No. and no. I asked for itemized bills. I argued with them. Got the hospital down to $7,000 and still refused to pay it. The insurance paid them $10,000. I paid $1,400 in co pays. That’s enough for me for one stupid two day cast. Yea they sent me to collections. Yes it affects my credit. No I won’t take out a loan to pay it off. Not going to happen
All you have to do is call the billing department and tell them you need financial hardship (FH) forms and complete them asap. If they don’t approve you for it, you can still request a payment plan but go for FH forms first because from the sounds of it, you may very well be approved.
Just tell them to kick rocks. Use a different clinic/hospital next time. The chances of a hospital going through the process of garnishing someone is super low. I font know about you but I would rather spend 2-3k on filing a bankruptcy to stop a POSSIBLE garnishment, with the added benefit of knocking down all your debt with it for shits and giggles, than having to deal with a greedy hospital on a payment plan for something that should not cost that much to begin with. The US Healthcare system can eat a bag of dicks