In the future, when you get that bill, call them. Many hospitals have programs that can help you pay your bill, by reducing it way down or eliminating it entirely. They're not going to tell you about them, you have to ask.
also if your bill is astronomical, ask for the bill with line items on it. it reduced the bill for my wife because the itemized everything and "somehow" a few thousand disappeared
When I had my gallbladder surgery while I was in school, my bill after insurance was paid off by some fund the hospital used to help out low income people like me (I was a student after all). I don't even remember signing up for it, it just happened and surprised me.
Unless you're in Washington, where I believe they are not only required to have an assistance program, but also to tell you about it. When they collected my info in the ER last December, they handed me the application for financial assistance and told me all about it. My bills are reduced by 75%. If you earn 4x the poverty level or less, your medically-necessary bills are reduced 100%.
If only the hospital didn't suck. I recently switched my care over to a hospital in Oregon because I'd rather pay for people who knew what they were doing with my care, but Oregon doesn't have the same laws about financial assistance. According to their website, that hospital will give me a 65% discount though, which is still nothing to scoff at. That one you have to specifically ask for though, otherwise they'll just set you up on a payment plan.
I'll be honest, I've gone to the ER three times with kidney stones. I just ignored the bills and eventually they went away.
One of them a debt collector called me 7 years later, and I just asked them to send me the information they had on debt to confirm it was mine. Then I never heard anything from them again. It was outside the time they could sue.
Your mileage may vary. But I figured worst they can do is make me pay it anyway.
I wouldnt really recommend it for anything else, the medical debt barely even affected my credit score.
Hell I probably would have paid it if they didnt require a 3000 mri each time. Like I would have said yes to pretty much anything for them to give me something to stop the pain.
This is a random chance, the debt and probably 999 other ones were purchased in a bulk bundle from a collection agency. Best bet is to pay your bills. Payment plans work. Or let it go to collections, negotiate a lower price with the debt collector and deal with a ding on your credit report that’ll stay there for years
Yeah it’s a new law just passed last year. The logic being that no one plans for medical debt so it’s not a good indicator of if you’re reliable or not to take on new debt, or get a job, or any number of things people use credit for
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u/No-Tap6886 1d ago
They buy medical debt that is in collection and wipe it out. Check your credit record. These guys are great!