I'm a college student who lives and attends university in Illinois and has insurance under his parents. In October of last year, I had an issue where needed to go to the ER. After an initial surgery to solve the initial problem, I was advised to do another surgery to prevent similar problems in the future. This additional surgery was out-of-network apparently/didn't follow the procedure to get insurance to cover it, which I didn't know.
I've been receiving bills but when I check my account online, there always seemed to be a charge that was pending insurance. I told my parents we should hold off on paying until there was a final settled amount. A few weeks ago, I checked my account and the amount due was reduced and apparently there was still apparently a charge being talked over with insurance. I wrongfully assumed insurance had pulled through and covered me.
Come this week, I have a letter dated from a month ago from a debt collector for the amount that was reduced from my bill a few weeks ago.
I applied for financial assistance last week when I thought the bill was being finalized but I don't know if it will do anything since it's already at collections and I don't think I'll get anything out of it due to their qualification criteria since it's based on household income.
What should I do? I've read about people taking it on the chin and ignoring it with no real consequence but I've also read I should contact them ASAP and set something up. What should I do?
I'm 20 and owe 30k in medical debt. What can I do
byu/ProfessionalOnly33 inpersonalfinance
Posted by ProfessionalOnly33
6 Comments
Why are you worried about medical debt? Tell them you indigent and you are able to pay 5 or 10 dollars a month.
Ask for an itemized bill, look up the no surprise act.
As long as you pay $50 a month I don’t think they can send you to collections. I had a really high medical bill and I told them I could only pay $50 a month. They took it. Try to negotiate
Any time you have a major medical expense not covered by insurance, you should always proactively contact their financing department to see what options you have. For example, I had a minor hospitalization after I was laid off. I worked with the hospital and they put me on a financial burden plan where ALL my bills (after insurance) going back 6 months and forwards 12 months were free (that’s one of the advantages of going to a religious non-profit hospital regardless of your views on that religion). That saved me about $15,000.
For now, don’t worry about collections at all. For the most part medical collections don’t go on your credit report and the hospital is usually willing to work with you even after things go to collections. You should also contact insurance and see why the claim was denied. You might be able to get it approved if you appeal and that would greatly reduce the bill.
Also: Class of ’99 Illini here!
Don’t pay it. Won’t it fall off after so many years? When I gave birth I owed like 55k in hospital bills, I never paid it, it disappeared after 20 years. But hospital bills might work differently than doctor charges, I’m not sure.
Contact the hospital/surgical center. Ask for an itemized bill and ask for copies of any and all HCFA bill forms and correspondence exchanged with the insurer. Ask them if they actually did send the bill to collections already and, if so, to confirm who bought the debt. Make sure you are talking to an actual debt collector and not a scam artist. Debt collectors buy debt generally less than 10% of the total. Offer to pay what you can immediately, say 15% of the total, if they will consider the debt fully satisfied. Tell them you are taking a personal loan from family to even get that much money together and that if they won’t take that amount as full payment, then they can try garnishing your non-existent wages for the next few years. Remind them you are a broke college student.