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Medical Bills
Medical bills can be some of the largest that exist. A simple Emergency Room visit can cost you thousands, a few days in the hospital and your medical bill may be in the five figures, and an extended hospital stay can produce a hospital bill of $100,000+!
An August 2009 article published in the American Journal of Medicine cited that over 60% of all bankruptcies were caused by medical debt. This should come as no surprise because medical problems can be the most devastating that exist, not only do you get sick or hurt, but your illness or injury can cause you to lose income or even your job and to add insult to injury, you also lose any health insurance you might have had through your employer.
Fortunately, there are a number of options available that can help you lower your medical bill. But don’t delay, if you wait too long, legal troubles will arise, you may lose out on reducing your medical bill by thousands of dollars, and worst of all you may be forced into bankruptcy because of your medical debt!
Getting help with medical bills can be as easy as asking the hospital or doctor. Almost every medical professional and hospital has a charity policy to help those in financial need . Sometimes the policy will allow the entire medical bill to be eliminated!
There are several governmental programs that provide financial assistance for medical bills.
Qualifications vary from program to program and state to state, and coverage can be retroactive up to three months prior to the application date, so now you have another reason not to delay!
Most hospitals realize that those without medical insurance will have a hard time paying the full amount owed. Just simply calling and telling them you are going to have a hard time paying them may be all that it takes for getting a discount with a no-interest payment plan. Negotiating medical bills can significantly reduce your obligation, but once again you can’t wait too long. If the hospital gets no response from you, it will turn your medical bill over to a collection agency.
If you let your medical debt get turned over to a collection agency, you will no longer be dealing with the medical providers, but with aggressive collection agents. Your options have now been limited and your actions may have to be more drastic, debt settlement or medical bankruptcy may be your only choice.
Medical bills don’t have to be financially devastating, but if you do nothing your credit will be wrecked and you will be stuck dealing with aggressive collection companies.
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Very informative post, I think all points made are great advice. The company I work for actually gives similar advice to people dealing with medical debts. Here is a link to a similar post on our blog page giving some additional options. Hope it is helpful to your readers.
http://www.clearpointcreditcounselingsolutions.org/medical-debt/