Has anyone ever had medical bills that are threatening to send to collections?

[traces7]

You might want to seriously consider the loan at the bank. If you have decent credit, and you have just one bill sent to collections, your credit could be significantly impacted. If somewhere down the road you needed a loan, it might be more difficult to get. Unfortunately, it's not always possible to "pay what you can" anymore. A lot of surgery centers ask for your deductible up front, before you can have surgery. At one point, your doctors are only going to see you for emergency purposes. It's like a credit card, if you can't make the minimum payment you are offered, you can't continue to charge, and your account will go to collections.

I did put in an application for the loan at the bank. Our house is paid off in 2018, so we would most likely have the loan paid off by then. Our credit is excellent, we've been told that it's higher then they ever seen, almost perfect.

OP I honestly might suggest going through right now and reviewing your household expenses. It may not help you get the $97 more a month than you are paying now (from your earlier comment) but it may help for future expenses. Do you eat out at all? Do you buy items like clothing, electronics, etc that you really don't need but just want? Are your utility bills able to be adjusted such as adjusting the thermostat, using less water? I'm not suggesting you are living beyond your means now but everyone every now and then could use a reevaluation of household expenses.

Our income is really low. We also pay a lot for health insurance. We don't go out at all. We definitely don't live beyond our means. I really need to find a different job. I haven't gotten a raise in years. We are considering dropping cable though. And actually my DD just commented that I never buy anything for myself, which I don't.

Any chance you would qualify for a 0 interest credit card? We used a few to float some legal expenses we had.
We actually just got sent to collections due to a hospital billing error. They did not change our address even though I corrected it on the paperwork, told them about it and gave them my license. It was a $60 bill. And now we are dealing with having to send letter to the hospital to remove it from our credit report.

We would probably qualify for a 0%interest credit card and I've thought about this also. But we wouldn't be able to pay it off by the end of the year or however long the 0% goes for. So not sure it's the best option, but I've thought about it.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I did put in an application for the loan at the bank. Our house is paid off in 2018, so we would most likely have the loan paid off by then. Our credit is excellent, we've been told that it's higher then they ever seen, almost perfect.



Our income is really low. We also pay a lot for health insurance. We don't go out at all. We definitely don't live beyond our means. I really need to find a different job. I haven't gotten a raise in years. We are considering dropping cable though. And actually my DD just commented that I never buy anything for myself, which I don't.



We would probably qualify for a 0%interest credit card and I've thought about this also. But we wouldn't be able to pay it off by the end of the year or however long the 0% goes for. So not sure it's the best option, but I've thought about it.

So, in 2018, you'll start getting a slight windfall (depending how much your mortgage is) - that's less than 2 years away, so you could float 2 0% interest CCs to that point (transfering the balance at 12 months) and then have that windfall to just pay everything left off...

If you haven't gotten a raise in years, why not go in and ask for one this week? Tell them your value, tell them the last time you got a raise, and tell them you want it. Worst they can say is no and then you probably should look for a new job...

(And don't ask for nothing - a 5% ask would be my minimum ask, if it's been years, and more likely closer to 10%).

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Our income is really low. We also pay a lot for health insurance. We don't go out at all. We definitely don't live beyond our means. I really need to find a different job. I haven't gotten a raise in years. We are considering dropping cable though. And actually my DD just commented that I never buy anything for myself, which I don't.

Congrats on the house being nearly paid off!! 2 years is a heck of a lot better than my 28 years (we just got the house a little over 2 years ago) so the end is def. not near for us. That should hopefully help you guys once it is paid off even if it's not right now. When we got our home the only debt we had was student loans and my husband's car payment. He still had 9 months left on the car loan when we closed and it wasn't too tight but it sure helped not to have to pay $330 per month on a car when he was done paying it off.

Yeah like I said I wasn't suggesting you were living beyond your means. I can understand the job issue. I love my husband but he really didn't understand how it felt for me to make nearly half of what he made. He was paid per hr as a 17/18 year old intern more money than I ever got paid per hr at my last job which was the most money per hr I had ever made. I do agree with TwoMisfits regarding the raise. My last company I worked for raises were built-in every year;it used to be a flat 5% but then they decided to pay as little as 2% and up to 8%. It really wasn't as great as you think...the raise usually was wiped out by rising health care costs and more money out of your paycheck due to income taxes for us at least. If it's been years since a raise I'd say it's time to find out if that is in the cards by asking for one. Even if my raises weren't as great as it looked on paper I'm always one to say every little penny helps.

 

[manning]

Medical bills don't work the same as regular debt. As long as you pay something every billing period, they can't go to collections. The doctor can refuse to see them,but if they are making sone kind of payment every billing period they cannot be sent to collections.

I've heard of this before.

Also I read an article where doctors will offer greatly reduced fees if you pay cash and not go thru insurance. Supposedly they save a lot on paper work. Perhaps your doctor(s) will do the same. Won't hurt to ask.

I'm on medicare. I was surprised my doctor preferred medicare over insurance. He said it takes forever for insurance to pay and medicare pays monthly.

 

[supersnoop]

Here's the thing; medical debt is usually handled by in-house collection agencies. That type of debt doesn't get sent out. Why? Because the FDCRA requires credit bureaus to validate debt or remove it upon request. And HIPAA prohibits the sharing of that information. So, if a medical debt ever hits your credit report, it will be removed if you demand validate (because the original creditor cannot legally share the validation information with the credit bureau).

When it come to medical debt, just do your best.

 

[Gracie09]

Here's the thing; medical debt is usually handled by in-house collection agencies. That type of debt doesn't get sent out. Why? Because the FDCRA requires credit bureaus to validate debt or remove it upon request. And HIPAA prohibits the sharing of that information. So, if a medical debt ever hits your credit report, it will be removed if you demand validate (because the original creditor cannot legally share the validation information with the credit bureau).

When it come to medical debt, just do your best.

That's not true. You can ask for verification and they will provide it if they have it. They also likely had you sign something that says you agree to pay the bill and they can collect such a bill. A collection agency would be a business associate or agency that can use private information under HIPPA to collect payment.

http://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/laws-regulations/

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Have you considered going to a non-profit consumer credit counseling service? They might, maybe, be able to work with the medical offices in ways you can't.

 

[Planogirl]

This is interesting.

I've been in different hospitals fr almost four months so far. I was taken by Life Flight to an out of network hospital where several surgeries were done. The surgery totals would be around 50K after the small amount insurance would pay. They sent a preliminary bill for that amount and more keeps being added. We appealed because it was an emergency situation and haven't heard anything yet.

How am I supposed to pay a bill like that? My husband died so I don't have his income any more.

I'll just have to let them destroy my credit.

 

[TwoMisfits]

This is interesting.

I've been in different hospitals fr almost four months so far. I was taken by Life Flight to an out of network hospital where several surgeries were done. The surgery totals would be around 50K after the small amount insurance would pay. They sent a preliminary bill for that amount and more keeps being added. We appealed because it was an emergency situation and haven't heard anything yet.

How am I supposed to pay a bill like that? My husband died so I don't have his income any more.

I'll just have to let them destroy my credit.

Are you on a grandfathered health plan or a new one from 2010 onward? If it's a new one, those insurance plans can't require higher copayments or coinsurance if you get emergency care out-of-network and they cannot require prior approval either. However, if any of the care was non-emergency care, that must be done in-network to be covered and may require prior approval (so you could be in for a fight).

If your insurer is trying to bill you for the care you may have to appeal their decision.

Now, also remember, you probably have an out-of-pocket maximum for the year that is less than $50K. So, you want to look up your plan, read all the fine print, and then get to work fixing everything before you pay all of this out of pocket. You probably only have a $10-$12K bill max...not saying that's easy, but it's not as life-destroying as a 6 figure bill...

 

[Planogirl]

Are you on a grandfathered health plan or a new one from 2010 onward? If it's a new one, those insurance plans can't require higher copayments or coinsurance if you get emergency care out-of-network and they cannot require prior approval either. However, if any of the care was non-emergency care, that must be done in-network to be covered and may require prior approval (so you could be in for a fight).

If your insurer is trying to bill you for the care you may have to appeal their decision.

Now, also remember, you probably have an out-of-pocket maximum for the year that is less than $50K. So, you want to look up your plan, read all the fine print, and then get to work fixing everything before you pay all of this out of pocket. You probably only have a $10-$12K bill max...not saying that's easy, but it's not as life-destroying as a 6 figure bill...

I'm not sure how old the policy is. I've been at my workplace for just over ten years and they have switched carriers but that was some time back. Some of the work was definitely emergency so we'll see. It's funny but they paid the enormous Life Flight charge without blinking an eye.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I'm not sure how old the policy is. I've been at my workplace for just over ten years and they have switched carriers but that was some time back. Some of the work was definitely emergency so we'll see. It's funny but they paid the enormous Life Flight charge without blinking an eye.

I'd get the details of the 2016 plan printed out now (since HR has probably moved on to thinking of the 2017 plan), ask HR if it's a grandfathered or new plan (if it's not obvious) and then sit down and read it soup to nuts. Once you know how it works with all the tiny details (including OOP maximums, max co-pays for different services, etc, call your insurance and nail down everything you can and then have them follow up with a letter or email stating both of your understandings for all the care you received surrounding this emergency. I did this after my emergency surgery - had 12 bills, and only had my $1800 10% of inpatient services to cover (that was one bill of the twelve) - I had to keep resubmitting the other 11 every time they came to my house til they were finally dealt with...

 

[ibelieveinmagic]

my grandson was in the NICU for 5 months before he passed away, my daughter in law said after he passed,they had bills for 1 million dollars! There is no way in 3 or 4 lifetimes they could pay that debt, she had to work to keep up the insurance, even though he was so sick, it broke my heart for her! I am not sure how all of this is working out,what was paid eventually by insurance, they are very private.

 

[Planogirl]

my grandson was in the NICU for 5 months before he passed away, my daughter in law said after he passed,they had bills for 1 million dollars! There is no way in 3 or 4 lifetimes they could pay that debt, she had to work to keep up the insurance, even though he was so sick, it broke my heart for her! I am not sure how all of this is working out,what was paid eventually by insurance, they are very private.

How awful!

From my understanding those first bills are no way the final bill. There was some kind of million dollar total being kicked around for my initial hospital stay too but I know that it was much less.

 

[Alicefan]

Medical bills don't work the same as regular debt. As long as you pay something every billing period, they can't go to collections. The doctor can refuse to see them,but if they are making sone kind of payment every billing period they cannot be sent to collections.

This is true. I had gallbladder surgery and had to pay $5 here and $10 there until it was paid off. As long as you're making an effort, nothing can happen.