Medical Bills

Ask to be put on a payment plan. They're likely to work with you if you're committed to paying it down.

I have the same issue. I have deductibles and out of pocket and co pay etc. My son gets very expensive medication that is cahrged as major medical rather than prescription. As everyone already suggested, call the providers and see what you can setup. If they do not like the payments you can send, insist that is what you can and then write a letter explaining it so you have something in writing. And make the payments. If they do send to a collection agency ,you may be able to avoid having it reported by showing the letter and payments made and then arranging a schedule with the agency. I did this a few years ago. I could not send the provider the amount they wanted every month. Even though they did receive payments, they sent to collections. It took a while to actually connect with rep but I sent a letter and explanation and worked to pay off the bill every month. Not all collection agencies are wolves knocking at the door and they are willing to work with you. The collection did not appear on my credit report.

All you can do is all you can do.

IME, hospitals are very good about working with people who are trying to pay *something* and they are very willing to work out a payment plan that you can manage.

Personally, I would suggest paying small payments on all but the smallest--bang away at that as aggressively as you can, then add THAT amount (once paid off) to the next smallest, while maintaining small monthly payments on the larger ones...and continue this "snowball effect until they are gone. Good luck!

my heart goes out to you! Been there, lived it. It's not fun.

We've had medical expenses for 17 out of the last 20 years. We hope that we are at the end of this rocky voyage!

In addition to payment plans, you can also contact the hospital & ask to be considered for financial adjustments. You will have to complete a FULL financial disclosure & then your account will be placed in the review process. The end result could be a discount of up to the full bill, depending on your financial status. While a full discount is rare, anything will help!

As for your credit record, as long as you pay each facility $10/month, you should be okay. But be very aware about asking about payment plans!

I have a horror story to share with you: I had 2 MRIs last summer. I made sure the provider was in "my plan". BUT the company who provided the reading was not, I didn't know it, & I ended up owing <$500....but it still hurt 'cuz we were still paying off my husband's heart surgery & gearing up for my son's hip replacement. Got behind on my payments, asked for a payment plan, & was told the required payment ....which was above my budget. I offered them $50/month & they refused! I am still shocked over that! Sooo, for the next few months, I offered them $50/month & each month they refused. Finally, I hit an employee who dramatically "lowered her voice" & almost whispered to me: just send it in, we can't legally refuse your $$. !!! & then she told me that even if it's $5 they can't refuse it! So why did everybody else play hardball....when they could have had my $$ all along? !! Good Luck & stay strong......

Get put on a payment plan. They are always MORE than happy to get something rather than nothing.

Ask your hospital about setting up a payment plan, as long as you are regular with payments, no matter how small...they won't report you to a credit agency. Also, ask your hospital if they can help you qualify for qualify for "share of cost Medicaid" - which is for un and under insured people and will possibly help cover a portion of those bills.

Talk to the providers. My husband and I racked up more than 100k in medical bills last year, insurance only paid about 60k. The hospital that most things were done at had a foundation that helps those who cant afford to pay all of their bills. All we had to do was fill out a few forms and provide tax returns and the foundation paid about 95% of what was outstanding. They also set up a payment plan to pay what was left. Good luck!

This happened to us too. I can be overwhelming to understand where all the little bills came from too!

Here's what we did. For the larger bills we called the provider, explained our situation, asked to have a low monthly payment plan. Everyone agreed, and only ONE charged us interest. After a year of faithfully paying our low monthly agreed amount, many of them actually just 'forgave' the debt.

For the zillions of little ones, maybe $100 or less, we found a credit card that offered 0% interest for 12 months and put them all on that one card.

I'm sorry this is happening to you, you'll get out of it, I promise, it's ALWAYS best to be honest with the providers about what you can pay.

:)

Contact the hospital as soon as possible and explain your situation. Hospitals are more likely to work out a payment plan with you if you are up front with them. If you feel you are getting over your head, contact outside help like The Access Project. They are a non-profit organization whose misson is to improve healthcare access. They can help you with strategies to deal with medical providers to resolve your debt.

My advice is to contact each provider immediately to explain your situation and work out a payment plan for each. Also ask if any portion can be written off as a "hardship case" (this is more likely to work for hospital portion of expenses). It's best to try to work out arrangements before bills are turned over to collection agencies (even then, arrangements can be made, but your credit will take some hits).

Our hospital- when I called- just asked "how much can you pay a month?" and with no interest or anything just put us on a plan. I know that might now work with all of them, but if you can get a couple to do that and then pay off the ones that won't budge- you should feel better!

Its amazing that when you have insurance you hate paying for it, but when you don't have the best coverage (for whatever reason) it turns out to be a rough year! Hopefully your family is now healthier and I hope that you guys can work this out. In most cases, if you are paying something to a hospital or dr office, they won't turn you into a credit bureau, but you need to sit down and make a list of each one with how much you owe, a phone number, and their payment policy so you don't end up with credit problems. Think of it as the 'snowball effect' in paying off credit cards- highest interest first! In this case- most likely to turn you into a credit bureau!!

Good luck!!

Five years ago we had a major medical issue and we were in the same boat. Just this past month we finally paid off all of the bills. You simply have to pay as much as you can and not go to the dr. unless absolutely necessary to avoid any more bills. It shouldn't be this way in America but many people are in the same boat. If you call the never-ending places that send you bills they will usually let you set up payment plans. They will say it needs to be paid in three months but obviously that would not be possible, just tell them that.

Good luck!

I second the payment plan. They should be able to work with you get the monthly payments to a reasonable amount.

Some might take a settlement, but I think that affects your credit. I'm not sure.

You might also talk to your doctors about payment plans.

call and set up payment plans for all the bills
find a way to bring in more money - get another job, sell stuff on craigslist/ebay, have a garage sale, cut coupons, investigate if you qualify for any gov't money - something to get more income
cut down expenses - cut out your cable, internet, cell phones, alcohol, cigarettes, coffee, candy, any purchases except the necessary to feed yourselves and get to work/schoool

Wow, I am sorry, that has got to be very stressful.

If you feel your insurance SHOULD have paid for some of the costs, you can send them a written dispute. Sometimes the hospital will place a hold on collection while the account is being disputed (be sure to ask them if they do, though. I did this a few months ago and one doctor held off on collection while the other doctor would not). Our insurance agreed to pay 50% of the cost due to my dispute, what a relief.

Second, contact everyone you owe and talk to them about your situation. They may be able to offer you an extended payment plan or a settlement where you pay less than you owe. Take good notes, get all agreements in writing and be organized. Find out when credit reporting/other action takes place on each account and pay off the accounts that are near credit reporting first.

Remember that most companies will work with you in order to get the bill paid. (I work for a collection agency). We do not want the bill to be written off, it leaves us unpaid. We will always take something over nothing. Good communication is key. It can be easy to get overwhelmed and ignore creditor calls and bills when they start to pile up, but if you are proactive you can find a solution. Good luck!

I would contact your local rheumatoid arthritis association to see if they have any type of financial assistance that they can offer you related to your diagnosis and treatment. I would also contact each of the medical vendors to explain your situation and (a) try to negotiate a lower balance to pay, or (b) set up some kind of reasonable payment plan. I had a friend whose daughter had to go to the ER and be hospitalized for a few days at a time when her family did not have any insurance. She didn't want to walk away from the debt either and ruin family's credit so that's what she did. I think, with practically everyone having financial problems now days, they will be more than willing to work with you. Getting paid some money is better than getting paid no money at all.

So sorry that you have had a stressful year. Troubles come in 3's. Sounds like you have your 3 so let's hope for sunnier days ahead. Blessings.

Our hospital has an assistance plan. You have to fill out paperwork and answer a ton of questions, but it was well worth it for me. I also set up a payment plan with them that we could afford.

I hear ya on those medical bills. I too had a baby, I was diagnosed with narcolespy and hypothyroidism. :( All unexpected except for the baby.

Take a deep breath and schedule an appointment with the billing office of each of the "bill holders". In almost all cases, they are willing to negotiate the fees, if you are willing to work with them. In nearly all cases, you can go on a payment plan.

Two years ago, my mother elected to go "out of network" for a highly specialized surgery. When she met with the billing office after the surgery, she was able to negotiate with them so that she paid the "insurance rate" (which is typically much lower than the private pay rate) in exchange for paying the bill "in full and in cash".

You may want to consider finding out your options from each of the creditors and then take out a personal loan or a HELOC so that you can pay off the bills "in cash and at a better rate". Then you have one "loan payment" monthly with a set amount that does not fluctuate and can be paid-off faster if you have extra cash.

Just a thought!

Call them and work out a payment plan. I think most doctor's offices will work with you.

since you have a high deductable plan , do you also have an hsa account?
I am in a similar situation currently, high deductable plan with unforseen medical issues. I uped what I am putting into the HSA and got on payment plans with the FOUR hospitals I had to deal with. I am paying the smallest off first like the other poster said and then snowballing to the larger ones
Good luck!

Call the billing department for each place and see if they offer financial assistance. Some hospitals will even pay your full amount owed depending on your income. My husbands hours got cut after having baby and our hospital helped us out alot. I even remember one of the places that sent me a bill for lab work let us slide on one of the payments. good luck

If you can get your hands on Dave Ramsey's book "The Total Money Makeover" it will give you hope. It will show you how to talk to all of these people and work out deals with them. It will also make you realize you can live without credit and free you from all of this.

We were in the same situation after my daughter has a bunch of tests done at Children's Memorial. I applied for financial aid and they forgave the entire hospital bill. I still had to pay the providers, but the hugest chunk of it was simply taken care of. When I was filling out the form I almost gave up because it seemed, on paper, like we made a lot of money and I figured there must people in much worse shape so they'll never give it to me. But they did. I just called the number on the statements and said I was having a hard time paying, what could I do. I was expecting them to set-up payment plans or something and instead they mailed me the financial aid form. Try that. Good luck!

I had similar problems in the past. Go to the hospital's financial department and tell them that you can't pay the costs that you have outstanding. Be completely honest with them. In my experience They will lower your costs or write them off in their taxes, depending on how large your family is and how much you bring in a year. Do the same for the doctors. At the worst they can put you on a low monthly payment plan. Several years ago, I had started a job and my insurance hadn't kicked in yet, and three days before it was set to start, I ended up in the ICU for 4 days and had over a $10,000 bill that there was no way I could pay. I gave them all my financial information, tax forms, etc. and ended up only having to pay two doctors fees. Then when my daughter was born there was a gap with the insurance. I had to switch insurance and get onto my husbands the DAY before my daughter was born, so both insurance companies said they weren't responsible for the payments (when actually they BOTH were... long story). We had to go threw all this again with the hospital and doctors, because the insurance ended up being a lost cause, they both refused no matter what documents we had and sent them both. Again, we ended up paying some doctors fees and a small meal fee for the stay.

I had a health scare in February. Because it was so early in the year, it was our first medical expense so we had not met our deductible, out of pocket expenses, etc. so now we too have large medical bills. A trip to the ER was involved so the bulk of our bills are from the hospital. We haven't had medical issues before so I assumed we would have to pay it all right away which would have meant putting it on a credit card & paying the high finance charge. When I got the bill from the hospital there was a number to call about payment plans. We now have a no interest payment plan arranged with the hospital & we have 2 years to pay the bill. I'm so sorry that you have been through so much already & now have the financial worries on top of it. Best Wishes to you & your family!

If your husbands company offers a health care spending account I'd have him open one of those. This takes the money out of his paycheck BEFORE TAXES are taken out, so you save some there - no taxes on the money in the account and less of his income being taxed. If his is like my husbands, he can have as much as he likes taken out of his paycheck automatically and put right in the account. They will send you a debit card and some checks. We also elected a high deductable, but because we have been slowly adding to the HSA with automatic deposits, we have some money in there and just pull out the debit card whenever a medical bill comes up. You can also use it for perscriptions and other health related expenses.

I agree with the other ladies who suggested contacting each provider and working out a payment plan. Explain your situation to them. They'd rather have you (eventually) pay your bills than to see you go under or have to send the bill to collections--if it goes to collections, then they have to pay a percentage to the collections agency!

In the meantime, while you're working on the details, pay a portion of each bill--whatever you can manage, even if it's $20 on a $200 bill! It's a sign of good-faith on your part that you are willing to do what it takes to get your bills paid.

Is there anywhere in your household that you can make sacrifices to free up some more cash on a temporary basis to then put into your medical bills? When I stopped working and we still had credit bills from when I had an income, we cut our cable service, cut our grocery habits, etc and ended up cutting at least $200-300 per month!

Good luck to you and I'm confident that you will eventually get to the end of the tunnel...and no, that light isn't another train :)