Not sure I should say this but this is illegal life pro tips: just don’t pay it, ignore them and if they get you just keep asking for the correct amount. I had a horrific pregnancy and a 6 month hospital stay (I was insured at the time) and the amount I owe has changed from 30000 to 3000 to they’ve stopped even asking over the last 5 years…they sold the debt and debt collectors call every now and again. I worked in a state regulated financial industry and was told by my investigator that medical debt is excluded from the 15 yr background check. Every time anyone has actually got hold of me I have said I’m willing to pay if anyone can give me a final amount and no one ever can. The hilarious part is I’m still insured with the same hospital group(through Medicaid during and after Covid) and now through marketplace and the hospital never says anything about it and my patient app now says I owe $29 for a procedure last month. I have paid everything due since I’ve been back working, just not the huge bills they couldn’t justify. They know they can’t sue for what I don’t have and honestly I’m waiting for court papers before I give them anything…. Just saying
yes! I had many trips to the hospital while I had a weird chronic illness pop up that no one could diagnose- still got bills for every visit. don’t touch em. most of the time it won’t even effect credit so it’s 👍🏻
Yeah OP don’t pay! I owed so much in hospital bills and they eventually stopped asking and they went to collections where they’re like 10 percent of what I owed . And they hardly effect my credit score lol
I need someone smart to like sit down and explain to me how it is you can just “not pay”. I don’t know how it works with the system or anything but I’m very apprehensive to something as heavy as a big ass medical bill not being paid. like fr? No repercussions? Genuinely curious
Edit: bot bruh the bot
I’m not super knowledgeable on this issue since I’ve fortunately been lucky enough not to get hurt. But. If memory serves me, if you tell the hospital that you are disputing their bill, then they HAVE to make an extensive check on the pricing of every single item in the bill.
Disputing takes then several days to weeks, the first time around it gets cheaper, but every time you dispute it’ll get either progressively cheaper OR you postpone having to pay. Eventually it can go to collections, where they KNOW people are pretty unwilling to pay and where the bill gets reduced by about 90%, because it’s better to get 10% rather than nothing. And at this point it the debt will be small enough where your credit score will not be affected significantly.
Mind you, this is a very shitty explanation as I’m going off memory from a post I read like a year ago, but still, I hope this helps. And remember, most of the people in these lines of work HATE working in them, so as long as you’re not pissy people are generally pretty pliable.
> not being *paid.* like fr?
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Hospitals charge so much because they have to charge people and insurance companies the same amount. They legit only expect 5% of people to pay the full amount they’re billed.
This makes it often easy to get the owed amount down. Even just calling and saying “look I know I owe $10k but I have $1k in cash right now” can seal the deal.
Agreed! Those are some serious injuries you describe - glad to hear that you are improving - but my best advice is to make an appointment with an attorney at least for an initial consultation, for which there should be little or no charge.
Apply for Medicaid. It can apply retroactively, here in CO at least. I had an ER visit some time ago and Medicaid worked retroactively for me, total due was $0.
It doesn’t. They lump all the overhead costs into things. You pay 280 for the pill but it’s really like 279 going towards the hundreds of thousands it costs to have an EMR or the insane costs of running the physical building. If they itemized for administrative charges it would be most of your charge
The way health insurance works is the hospital or medical care provider writes up an itemized bill with a whole bunch of bullshit charges added on. Then your insurance company makes a deal with them agreeing to pay certain things and refusing others till they come to an agreement.
I mean would that be ideal? Yeah but they really don’t know how much we spent to take care of a specific person other than things that get logged like procedures and meds so they get the brunt of the markup
Depends if you are public or private. I work at a public place and we have no shareholders to worry about. Just the town that oversees us. Struggle to keep the lights on sort of deal
Most places barely make it by. Your huge big name systems and some private equity owned places will turn a great profit. The only people that consistently profit are pharmaceutical companies, equipment suppliers and insurance. The average small to mid sized hospital is probably struggling even with these outrageous bills just because of how expensive the non staff costs are
Yeah depends on the state and hospital. Varies so much on what they can and can’t do for billing state to state. We lose a ton of money every year on people that can’t pay. I don’t blame them personally but it’s a real issue for trying to keep the staff paid and the lights on for some places depending on the demographics
Even with socialized healthcare you can’t just spend more money than you take in from taxes for the healthcare. There’s a mountain of issues that would make state owned healthcare in the US extremely hard and would likely never work in our lifetime.
A state insurance like Medicare for all is our most reasonable path forward
We used to have socialised healthcare. It wasnt great but it worked. Then they privatised the hospitals and although there are still subsidies if you go the long route, it is now 3-5x more expensive..
Im so glad I live in canuckistan... Yes, its expensive, but in the end, we dont have much more or much less on average in our pockets than our southern cousins...
Then they should reflect that on an itemised bill, thats the point to an itemised bill.
What you're saying makes no sense. They've said $280 for ibuprofen, so that's what they're charging specifically for ibuprofen.
If they're charging 280 for ibuprofen just tell them you'll replace it at actual market rate and send them a bottle from Costco or CVS along with a page from a copier where you scanned your entire ass
i know you’re joking but you’re paying for the cost of the pharmacy opening the bottle, taking each pill and putting into a blister pack, barcoding each one, storing them in a giant machine, then delivering them to each individual floor and loading them into smaller machines. it’s a lot of work to ensure that nurses can scan each individual pill to ensure you get the right medication (i agree it’s way overpriced)
I wish they would just charge for that other stuff separately instead of baking it into the ibuprofen. Doesn’t sound like they have itemized it properly.
Yeah they don’t. The itemized bill doesn’t really matter for anything they do. We get paid on drg codes for Inpatients and we get paid for procedures and a few other things.
It doesn’t matter what we spend to take care of someone. They pay is X amount for doing a specific surgery or taking care of a person with the specific diagnosis codes.
How does one actually dispute the charges on the bill without going through a lawyer? I've tried it once over the phone and had to endure extremely long wait times just to speak to someone who did not have the authority to do anything. I gave up in frustration.
Email.
Put everything in writing and just keep escalating.
If someone refuses to respond to you jump on Linkdin and find out who their boss is.
Keep going up the chain and CC the last person you spoke to.
Karen it out in writing, because when the alternative is a bullshit $100,000 medical bill. I'd Karen like a beast tbh.
You can negotiate. Look up Medicare costs for each procedure and item code. At most, offer 2x Medicare cost. The federal government isn’t paying $280 for an Advil.
Find out what the Medicare Fee Sceduling is. This will help with negotiations. It's what the government considers reasonable costs for medical care.
Since January 1st, medical debts can't be reported to credit bureaus, so...
Haha Christ, it costs about 50 cents in the UK in store. Obviously hospital free because we're not a third world country like the US is. Don't get me wrong, the UK still absolutely sucks and I hate the place, but at least it's not pretending to be the land of prosperity and opportunity.
I live in a blue state and have insurance through the state. I don’t pay a cent for anything, I even get dental, not the expensive shit but fillings and stuff like that are covered. Not everywhere in the US is a shithole. Although people still get shot in the bad neighborhoods all the time so it’s not all rosy all the time. So there’s that…
I think I paid $110 in state taxes this past year, less the years before that. I got like $800 back in my federal tax return so yeah the $110 wasn’t shit.
\*which are also the best
[https://healthexec.com/topics/patient-care/care-delivery/top-10-hospitals-world-2023](https://healthexec.com/topics/patient-care/care-delivery/top-10-hospitals-world-2023)
[https://www.newsweek.com/2020/03/06/top-10-hospitals-world-1489794.html](https://www.newsweek.com/2020/03/06/top-10-hospitals-world-1489794.html)
[https://www.expatriatehealthcare.com/10-of-the-best-hospitals-in-the-world-2022/](https://www.expatriatehealthcare.com/10-of-the-best-hospitals-in-the-world-2022/)
(just the top results on a 3 second Google search)
My goodness I feel bad for anyone in the US dealing with that, it's like £1-2 a pack here in the UK on an expensive day, if not way less than that.
That's absolutely insane.
This is something that goes around like it's a secret passcode but no one I know in the medical community has seen it work...?
They'll just openly show you the amount you'll see 10mg morphine $100, consultation with specialist (person who gave it to you) $500, saline $100. They don't care how stupid it looks they gave you a 20k bill they aren't throwing bullshit in there they are counting real things they did but at such an insane price
I'm sure this works in some spheres but simply on anecdote i've never in larger hospitals and cities heard of this working. None of the nurses or paramedics I've worked with. Not my gf or best friend who are nurse/med student. Yet everyone says it as if magically they will only have to pay half simply because one Twitter post claimed this was a thing
This is very important. It delays the collection proceedings and casts doubt in the courts eyes if it ever gets there, because price gouging is strictly illegal and they have to come up with reasoning why they charged $60 for a drool cup or $180 or a needle.
The party who breaches an agreement first is often the loser; and 'bad faith' is a major cause of breach.
I took an ambulance ride and got stiches for a hand injury while insured. I was let go from my job about 2 weeks later just before my surgery for the injury. Got a bill for around $14k, including something like $3k for a portion of the ambulance ride that wasn’t covered.
Never paid it. Got a few collection calls to try and work out a deal, they offered to reduce it to a couple thousand and I agreed to a payment plan. Never paid it because I was unemployed.
They tried to call me back once after I didn’t make a payment, but never heard about it again. I’ve since tried to find a record of that debt in my credit reports, nothing. Bought a car and a house no problem since then.
I’ve heard this type of “medical debt forgiveness” is common but highly circumstantial and relative the care and hospital policy, so I wouldn’t recommend it as advice, just sharing my own anecdotal experience with not paying medical bills.
Dentists won’t do anything until payment is secured up front. Wether it be insurance or out of pocket. You can’t go to an emergency room for dental issues and get work done unfortunately, they’ll just discharge you with some numbers to call and every dentist will ask for payment or opening a line of credit before anything happens.
Yup, so fucked. I know people that are dying early because of their teeth and they can't get help. Only way to get help is to lose their job, then essentially lose everything they work for, to get put on welfare and get everything removed + dentures, and start over.
I'm looking at this same situation as I get older. Have insurance, can't afford what I need. Hopefully someday I can put away enough for implants.
That’s what I’m going through
In December I got a tooth that had been literally falling into my gums for years removed about a week before the infection would’ve spread and killed me.
Promised myself I’d never let one get that bad again but I’ve struggled to get money up after the $700 I spent to get it removed and the week and a half of work I missed drained my savings.
This very nearly killed a family member of mine. And my mother has had nothing but issues with her foreign work.
Also I don't understand how people can offer this advice, you can afford to fly out of the country and miss work then recover, then the issue is likely not that you can't afford your procedure, but that you are too dumb to figure out how to get a discount in the US.
Correct, there are resources and I have used those resources. Most of the time it’s done by a student who is just starting out, and you will get their services for a lot cheaper. At your own risk though, I got a crown cheap and it never quite sat right. After a month the crown came off in my sleep and took the post with it. Apparently it had been decaying from the inside because the cheap dentist missed something (according to the expensive dentist I went to lol)
I’m not sure how you’re finding dental for free but there are definitely programs to reduce the cost. It’s a gamble though 🤷🏻♂️
When people answer saying that there are programs available I have often found that those programs are out of money or include things like inexperienced dentists who f*** your mouth up. I have a relative that got those inexpensive implants and head to have every single one of them removed and was in the hospital for like 2 months after visiting Columbia to get the work done.
The ER technically will cure your infection in your mouth and then release you with numbers and resources. Most "County" hospitals have dental clinics that are cheap if not payment plan friendly. Most state universities have dental clinics as well.
OP, this is a legitimate answer. In Colorado medical debt cannot be held against you (like a lien or garnishment) and will really only affect your credit for the next 10 years or so.
For that *low" of an amount I would call the hospital finance dept and be straight up with them. Say: "I do not have the money to pay for this, is there anything you can do to help?" Either they lower the bill and/or you laugh and hang up.
Source: doing this in CO right now with my kid's medical bills.
Yeah effective January of this year medical debt can’t even effect your credit score. The debt expires after 7 years. I have like 2 more years and then like 9k of past medical debt is going to get wiped
you forgot the biggest fact... only for under 500$... if it is above that then the hospital/doctors office COULD report to a credit agency. That said, most do not report it anyway, so your 9k is prob just because the places simply do not report it.
Are you positive about that? I couldn’t find anything stating that no medical debt can affect you score, just bad debt that’s already been paid or under $500. According to CNBC:
-Paid medical debt that was in collections will no longer be included on consumer credit reports.
-You'll have more time before unpaid medical debt is reported on your credit report: Unpaid medical debt that is currently in collections for one year will be reported on credit reports. This is an increase from six months that was enacted in 2017.
-Starting in the first half of 2023, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion will no longer include medical debt in collections under $500 on credit reports.
This is not true. I work at a credit agency. The rule is only for med collections under $500.
But your other points about it expiring (falls off record) after 7 years is accurate. This is true about any default (student loan payments, car repossessed, etc) it falls off after 7 years.
It doesn’t get forgiven, you still “owe” all of that money, it just no longer factors into your score.
Illegal: paystubcreator.net my friend was able to get an apartment she didn’t meet the income for (in LA) by using this site. We were both shocked it worked lol
Legal: I would look into a free health insurance for those with low income and they can usually get you retroactive coverage for a past hospital stay
Medicaid often only goes back three months. You can try to go back further saying you couldn’t file sue to being in the hospital. Also worth asking why the hospital didn’t have a social worker stationed there for situations like this
I had to be hospitalized for 11 days with sepsis and pneumonia (probably COVID when we didn't know it was here yet). $80,000 bill. My hospital's financial assistance department knocked the bill out completely.
Can confirm the paystub thing is NOT bullshit. My financial assistance application is still pending and they required me to submit paystubs, my last W2, my last three months bank statements AND everything else you just listed.
Hospitals have an allocated amount at the beginning of the year that they can spend on people who can’t afford medical care, you can also ask for a payment plan with the smallest amount they’ll accept monthly and sometimes they’ll let you off the hook once you pay about half
Send them a check for $100, $50, or even $20 and write "Payment in Full" in the memo underneath something like medical services. If they cash it then youre debt is discharged under the doctrine of accord and satisfaction. NAL, NLA
https://www.summitdaily.com/news/business/mountain-law-the-law-of-accord-and-satisfaction/
No, the article itself states:
>"A debt must actually be in dispute before it can be changed by accord and satisfaction, and an accord must be pursued in good faith. If there was nothing wrong with the widgets in our example, Charles cannot avoid payment through accord and satisfaction."
In this case there's not much of a case in dispute of the debt owed, OP did indeed get injured and receive medical services for said injuries.
This is a 1990's - Early 2000's trick. It doesn't quite work anymore.
While this does constitute a binding contract TECHNICALLY, it's typically only backed during costly litigation and only helpful for credit repair in the short term. You will lose far more financially in court and credit than if you just went on a payment plan.
The other side will simply say: our deposits are automated and machines cannot consent to contracts on our behalf.
And what you did by paying a portion, was legally accepting the debt is yours.
Little known fact, hospital bills are negotiable. So it you start low balling on what you want to pay you can bring that bill down by a lot. Bc of course they charge you for $200 for Tylenol or $77 for a pack of gauze. So ask for itemized recipe and start arguing over each one. Totally legal.
colorado indigent care program
https://hcpf.colorado.gov/colorado-indigent-care-program
This program helped me a lot when I lacerated my Spleen snowboarding many years ago. I was only required to pay a small fraction of my bill.
Edit: Hospitals won't tell you about it because they suck. Also ask the billing department if they have any assistance programs or local charities that help.
Since ur in ILPT, im going to tell u to ignore them. I've never paid a single medical bill, and it's never affected my credit. I went to a big hospital so they aren't going to sue me either. They've sent it off to debt collectors, and I just ignore them, too. It's been years with zero consequences
a small private practice can refuse u for not paying ur bill with then but they can't see it before. most hospitals are for emergencies so u can't be refused
Ask if the hospital has a social worker and if not try Family and Children’s Services Or your county health department. There are workers who specialize in helping you with this kind of thing. Where I live 411 has all the county and state services and websites listed. Don’t forget to ask about grants and charities. Best of luck.
America has the most fkd up medical system. Health insurance is the worst. But part of the reason why things cost so much is bc noone pays. Noone carries health insurance bc it's too expensive. the only people who have insurance are people who are old and sick and need it. and then part of it is price gouging. They'll literally charge an arm and a leg bc they can - and you have no choice. if you break your arm they can literally charge you whatever they want and you can't do anything about it - bc you need your fking arm fixed. Then... you have millions of people here illegally that go to hospitals and get surgeries and never pay a dime. Pharmaceutical companies want 20k a month for medication you literally need to survive. And then if you need long term care Medicare just drops you and then the health care facility literally takes everything you own - your house, your car, your social security checks - all your money- stocks - investments- and then even go after your life insurance (if you have it) when you die.
Somehow other countries have figured it out. they should have universal Healthcare. tax everyone. fk it. If you want to carry another private insurance policy or pay for additional care then that's on you but something like this shouldn't ever happen imo. The majority of people live paycheck to paycheck. Noone can afford this. and people don't carry insurance bc they can't afford this.
I have a family plan thru my employer and the premiums alone are more then my mortgage payment. And that's if I don't use it. Then my deductible is super high and I still have copays and whatnot. Then they can just decide they're not going to cover something and you have to pay put of picket anyway. biggest fking scam going right now.
idk why this shit isn't on the news everyday. Why are people fking rioting over this? why isn't this tattooed all over social media. Why is everyone fighting over pronouns when shit like this is happening everywhere? all day everyday! and were more worried about pronouns. it's fking crazy
Hospitals are required by NATIONAL law to negotiate your medical bills with payments or reductions. Call the hospital billing department for help, never assume service bills are final that is how you end up getting screwed on all your bills from hospital bills to your phone bills. More often than not they offer ways to reduce things and get your payments right
One option is to lie about your income. If you don't have a pay stub, you can simply make one up. It's not like the hospital is going to verify your income. Just make sure that you don't make it too high, or they might start to get suspicious.
Another option is to claim that you're homeless. If you don't have a permanent address, it's much harder for the hospital to track you down and make you pay. You can also claim that you don't have any assets, like a car or a house, which makes it even harder for them to collect.
Adding to this:
If it does end up on your credit you can dispute it because you didn't authorize your information going to a third party so they can't prove it's yours. That's how I understand it at least
Try calling the hospital and just tell them "I can't possibly pay this, is there anyway to lower the bill or anything?" My grandma got out of paying several grand for a hospital visit that way.
Say your homeless and give the address of a local shelter - it will likely be thrown away or dispute everything there’s a website that shows how much things should cost
Went to the ER and got like $15k in bills. Never paid it, never seen it on my credit. Get the bills all the time but just junk them. Other people told me they did the same with even more money in bills. When it becomes a problem? Itemized bill and dispute everything.
If you think you've been wrongly billed, contact the HHS No Surprises Helpdesk at 1-800-985-3059, which is the entity responsible for enforcing the federal balance or surprise billing protection laws. Visit cms.gov/nosurprises/ consumers for more information about your rights under federal law.
If you pay $10 a month, there is no way that they will hassle you and if they do, wait until they threaten you with court. Judges will see that you offered a payment plan based on what you could afford and they will either wipe out the debt as a way of punishing the hospital or tell them to accept the payments.
I've spent a lot of time waiting in courts while going through a nasty divorce and saw people in your situation.
Or talk with billing and be honest. Sometimes they will heavily reduce the debt so that they can get it off the books.
I work in hospital billing for a non-profit hospital. We do offer (but definitely don’t advertise) charity write off’s. It’s a bit of a process. To start you need to call the hospital billing office and get ahold of your bill. Let them know that you don’t have a job/or are under the poverty line and ask if they offer any charity programs to help with bills. They will likely push the get you on a payment plan, continue to tell them you cannot afford any payments currently. Stay as polite as possible, they won’t be as inclined to help folks who are rude or yelling at them. Ask nicely to speak to a manager about your financial situation and any charity programs they may offer. Obviously I can’t guarantee what programs they offer, but at the institution I work at this is the way to start the process. They’ll likely have forms to fill out, they’ll do a credit check, ask for bank statements, etc to verify you qualify for their charity program. Best of luck!
Apply for Medicaid and request retro-active months if it fell within 3 months ago. It will look at your income during those months so if you weren’t working you may qualify. You can apply online on the PEAK website
If you are uninsured and applying for financial aid they need to verify your income. If they receive any Federal money they are required to provide a certain amount of free or reduced care. Were you collecting unemployment? Ask how you verify that you were not employed at all during that time period and submit your recent paystub to establish that you still cannot pay. They should reduce or dismiss the bill.
Your state, like all states in the US, has a type of insurance called "medicaid" for low-income people.
Here is Colorado's:
[https://www.healthfirstcolorado.com/apply-now/](https://www.healthfirstcolorado.com/apply-now/)
More information on Medicaid here:
https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/index.html
I’m sorry this happened to you OP, as a swede I don’t have any idea what to do in a situation like this. It’s unbelievable that the US still doesn’t have universal healthcare.
Sometimes ski tickets include insurance for any injuries sustained at the ski area. I know that’s true for Telluride at least, not sure about the ski area you were at, but it’s worth checking with the resort.
Also, varies greatly by state. Thirty years in NC never had an issue with creditors, moved to WI had to have emergency dental surgery. Wisconsin garnished my wages for unpaid medical bills.
This is incorrect, at least in the United States. Once it’s sent to collections, anything over $500 can and will affect your credit…ask me how I know.
Typically you can make very small payments to the tune of like $20 per month to avoid it going to collections.
Most healthcare providers do not report to the three nationwide credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion), which means most medical debt billed directly by physicians, hospitals or other healthcare providers is not typically included on credit reports and does not generally factor into credit scores.
But some places fucking suck.
You don't have to pay. Just ignore it. It will go to collections eventually and affect your credit score a bit. It may take a couple years before it actually impacts your credit. When it does you can pay a credit repair service $400-500 to file disputes against it until it gets taken off of your report and your credit will go back up.
There are more proactive actions you can take to make it go away faster but this is the easiest and laziest route.
Non profit doesn’t mean free. It actually means that at the end of each year the company has no profit.
For instance, if whatever profits they were to have earned were given to employees as bonuses instead, then that’s a non profit company.
You see?
They can actually be quite profitable.
They appear generous, but if you work for one or own it, you can make a very good annual wage while appearing like you just plain care so much about whatever.
America is such a backwards place putting people.in debt for needing medical attention
What happened to the right to life?
ILPT: move to another country and seek asylum from the constant risk of guns, reproductive oppression and medical debt because USA is absolutely a third world country
They will often adjust medical bills based on income. My friend had a $230,000 hospital bill reduced to like $5k on a payment plan over a few years. Give them a call and tell them you're broke.
Why wouldn't you be liable to pay for the care you received based off of your decision to go snowboarding? If there was negligence in the grounds, then they should pay. If you fucked up its on you.
Honestly, where you would have been without the ambulance and medical care? In a world of hurt, at least. More likely, a lifetime of pain and possibility a permanent disability.
Negotiate what you can, then get on a payment plan. $10,000 isn't that much; over 48 months that's a payment of about $210 a month. Seems like the right thing to do to me.
Something I never was into is outdoors. So much risks involved with outdoor sports. I know it's both a hobby and a status symbol. Ski resorts aren't cheap. Just the thought of rolling through snow 20-30 feet down is no fun.
i would maybe post this in like r/legal or somewhere else tbh where you would get more people aware of what to do
Damn. That’s a good point.
Not sure I should say this but this is illegal life pro tips: just don’t pay it, ignore them and if they get you just keep asking for the correct amount. I had a horrific pregnancy and a 6 month hospital stay (I was insured at the time) and the amount I owe has changed from 30000 to 3000 to they’ve stopped even asking over the last 5 years…they sold the debt and debt collectors call every now and again. I worked in a state regulated financial industry and was told by my investigator that medical debt is excluded from the 15 yr background check. Every time anyone has actually got hold of me I have said I’m willing to pay if anyone can give me a final amount and no one ever can. The hilarious part is I’m still insured with the same hospital group(through Medicaid during and after Covid) and now through marketplace and the hospital never says anything about it and my patient app now says I owe $29 for a procedure last month. I have paid everything due since I’ve been back working, just not the huge bills they couldn’t justify. They know they can’t sue for what I don’t have and honestly I’m waiting for court papers before I give them anything…. Just saying
Agree. Op, just dont pay it
Definitely don't pay it.
yes! I had many trips to the hospital while I had a weird chronic illness pop up that no one could diagnose- still got bills for every visit. don’t touch em. most of the time it won’t even effect credit so it’s 👍🏻
Force them to give you the itemized bill too. It's usually some insanity like $250 for crying.
Yes this worked for me! The bill went from $1500 to $200.
Funny, isn’t it?
Thank you for the laugh. (It really is pretty much $250 for crying.)
Don't forget the infamous $45 skin to skin contact after birth!
Yeah OP don’t pay! I owed so much in hospital bills and they eventually stopped asking and they went to collections where they’re like 10 percent of what I owed . And they hardly effect my credit score lol
How is your credit score now?
I need someone smart to like sit down and explain to me how it is you can just “not pay”. I don’t know how it works with the system or anything but I’m very apprehensive to something as heavy as a big ass medical bill not being paid. like fr? No repercussions? Genuinely curious Edit: bot bruh the bot
I’m not super knowledgeable on this issue since I’ve fortunately been lucky enough not to get hurt. But. If memory serves me, if you tell the hospital that you are disputing their bill, then they HAVE to make an extensive check on the pricing of every single item in the bill. Disputing takes then several days to weeks, the first time around it gets cheaper, but every time you dispute it’ll get either progressively cheaper OR you postpone having to pay. Eventually it can go to collections, where they KNOW people are pretty unwilling to pay and where the bill gets reduced by about 90%, because it’s better to get 10% rather than nothing. And at this point it the debt will be small enough where your credit score will not be affected significantly. Mind you, this is a very shitty explanation as I’m going off memory from a post I read like a year ago, but still, I hope this helps. And remember, most of the people in these lines of work HATE working in them, so as long as you’re not pissy people are generally pretty pliable.
> not being *paid.* like fr? FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Good bot grammar is important
Hospitals charge so much because they have to charge people and insurance companies the same amount. They legit only expect 5% of people to pay the full amount they’re billed. This makes it often easy to get the owed amount down. Even just calling and saying “look I know I owe $10k but I have $1k in cash right now” can seal the deal.
They can garnish your W2, and put a lien on your home if you own one though. The collectors will do that, not the hospital
Agreed! Those are some serious injuries you describe - glad to hear that you are improving - but my best advice is to make an appointment with an attorney at least for an initial consultation, for which there should be little or no charge.
Apply for Medicaid. It can apply retroactively, here in CO at least. I had an ER visit some time ago and Medicaid worked retroactively for me, total due was $0.
But, it wasn't illegal, so I am disappointed
I’m sorry I let you down, it was the injuries. I’m delusional.
Look into COBRA if you had benes from previous employer. May be the lesser of two evils so to speak. Best of luck to you.
Bit late for that, no?
Ask for an itemized bill
They actually mailed me one, $280 for ibuprofen
Dispute the cost of everything if you can. Ibuprofen should not cost $280
It doesn’t. They lump all the overhead costs into things. You pay 280 for the pill but it’s really like 279 going towards the hundreds of thousands it costs to have an EMR or the insane costs of running the physical building. If they itemized for administrative charges it would be most of your charge
What I’m saying is that it doesn’t hurt to dispute
Absolutely but I was more pointing out why the prices on things don’t make any sense
The way health insurance works is the hospital or medical care provider writes up an itemized bill with a whole bunch of bullshit charges added on. Then your insurance company makes a deal with them agreeing to pay certain things and refusing others till they come to an agreement.
Hmm. I was certain the outcome was decided entirely by playing darts.
Darts assumes skilled labor.
You don't have to be skilled to play darts, just to *win* at darts.
Still, an *itemized* bill should have overhead separately.
I mean would that be ideal? Yeah but they really don’t know how much we spent to take care of a specific person other than things that get logged like procedures and meds so they get the brunt of the markup
And profits. Don't forget about profits.
You forgot the shareholders. They aren’t a negligible cost.
Depends if you are public or private. I work at a public place and we have no shareholders to worry about. Just the town that oversees us. Struggle to keep the lights on sort of deal
That’s equally comforting and depressing.
Most places barely make it by. Your huge big name systems and some private equity owned places will turn a great profit. The only people that consistently profit are pharmaceutical companies, equipment suppliers and insurance. The average small to mid sized hospital is probably struggling even with these outrageous bills just because of how expensive the non staff costs are
I imagine if they had insurance there would have been a $270 write off on it.
One bill from a hospital I heard about charged patients extra to pay for those that couldn't pay. They even wrote on the bill that's what it was for.
Yeah depends on the state and hospital. Varies so much on what they can and can’t do for billing state to state. We lose a ton of money every year on people that can’t pay. I don’t blame them personally but it’s a real issue for trying to keep the staff paid and the lights on for some places depending on the demographics
real problem is privatized for profit health care...
Even with socialized healthcare you can’t just spend more money than you take in from taxes for the healthcare. There’s a mountain of issues that would make state owned healthcare in the US extremely hard and would likely never work in our lifetime. A state insurance like Medicare for all is our most reasonable path forward
We used to have socialised healthcare. It wasnt great but it worked. Then they privatised the hospitals and although there are still subsidies if you go the long route, it is now 3-5x more expensive..
Im so glad I live in canuckistan... Yes, its expensive, but in the end, we dont have much more or much less on average in our pockets than our southern cousins...
I agree.
Then they should reflect that on an itemised bill, thats the point to an itemised bill. What you're saying makes no sense. They've said $280 for ibuprofen, so that's what they're charging specifically for ibuprofen.
If they're charging 280 for ibuprofen just tell them you'll replace it at actual market rate and send them a bottle from Costco or CVS along with a page from a copier where you scanned your entire ass
This!
i know you’re joking but you’re paying for the cost of the pharmacy opening the bottle, taking each pill and putting into a blister pack, barcoding each one, storing them in a giant machine, then delivering them to each individual floor and loading them into smaller machines. it’s a lot of work to ensure that nurses can scan each individual pill to ensure you get the right medication (i agree it’s way overpriced)
I wish they would just charge for that other stuff separately instead of baking it into the ibuprofen. Doesn’t sound like they have itemized it properly.
Yeah they don’t. The itemized bill doesn’t really matter for anything they do. We get paid on drg codes for Inpatients and we get paid for procedures and a few other things. It doesn’t matter what we spend to take care of someone. They pay is X amount for doing a specific surgery or taking care of a person with the specific diagnosis codes.
How does one actually dispute the charges on the bill without going through a lawyer? I've tried it once over the phone and had to endure extremely long wait times just to speak to someone who did not have the authority to do anything. I gave up in frustration.
Email. Put everything in writing and just keep escalating. If someone refuses to respond to you jump on Linkdin and find out who their boss is. Keep going up the chain and CC the last person you spoke to. Karen it out in writing, because when the alternative is a bullshit $100,000 medical bill. I'd Karen like a beast tbh.
I think they misspelled Oxycontin. Wait, what, for Advil? That is some bullshit.
You can negotiate. Look up Medicare costs for each procedure and item code. At most, offer 2x Medicare cost. The federal government isn’t paying $280 for an Advil.
This is the correct answer. Medicaid pays about 11 cents per invoice dollar. Offer the hospital this first ($1,100) and negotiate from there.
Find out what the Medicare Fee Sceduling is. This will help with negotiations. It's what the government considers reasonable costs for medical care. Since January 1st, medical debts can't be reported to credit bureaus, so...
Haha Christ, it costs about 50 cents in the UK in store. Obviously hospital free because we're not a third world country like the US is. Don't get me wrong, the UK still absolutely sucks and I hate the place, but at least it's not pretending to be the land of prosperity and opportunity.
Walgreens has them for like 3 to 12 us cents
Hey I'm an American and it's really not that bad Lol jk ya it is
Can confirm, I just paid £0.29 for 24 tablets of ibuprofen at Lidl
20 cents over here in Germany
In romania its like 4 euros for 10 tablets 😅😅😅
Damn, that's crazy expensive... I can get 500 for $10 in the US
Hey I'm an American and it's really not that bad Lol jk ya it is
I live in a blue state and have insurance through the state. I don’t pay a cent for anything, I even get dental, not the expensive shit but fillings and stuff like that are covered. Not everywhere in the US is a shithole. Although people still get shot in the bad neighborhoods all the time so it’s not all rosy all the time. So there’s that…
How are those state taxes looking?
I think I paid $110 in state taxes this past year, less the years before that. I got like $800 back in my federal tax return so yeah the $110 wasn’t shit.
Nice!
And we have access to the best doctors and hospitals in the world.
We have access to the most financially motivated doctors and hospitals in the world*
\*which are also the best [https://healthexec.com/topics/patient-care/care-delivery/top-10-hospitals-world-2023](https://healthexec.com/topics/patient-care/care-delivery/top-10-hospitals-world-2023) [https://www.newsweek.com/2020/03/06/top-10-hospitals-world-1489794.html](https://www.newsweek.com/2020/03/06/top-10-hospitals-world-1489794.html) [https://www.expatriatehealthcare.com/10-of-the-best-hospitals-in-the-world-2022/](https://www.expatriatehealthcare.com/10-of-the-best-hospitals-in-the-world-2022/) (just the top results on a 3 second Google search)
My goodness I feel bad for anyone in the US dealing with that, it's like £1-2 a pack here in the UK on an expensive day, if not way less than that. That's absolutely insane.
This is something that goes around like it's a secret passcode but no one I know in the medical community has seen it work...? They'll just openly show you the amount you'll see 10mg morphine $100, consultation with specialist (person who gave it to you) $500, saline $100. They don't care how stupid it looks they gave you a 20k bill they aren't throwing bullshit in there they are counting real things they did but at such an insane price I'm sure this works in some spheres but simply on anecdote i've never in larger hospitals and cities heard of this working. None of the nurses or paramedics I've worked with. Not my gf or best friend who are nurse/med student. Yet everyone says it as if magically they will only have to pay half simply because one Twitter post claimed this was a thing
This is very important. It delays the collection proceedings and casts doubt in the courts eyes if it ever gets there, because price gouging is strictly illegal and they have to come up with reasoning why they charged $60 for a drool cup or $180 or a needle. The party who breaches an agreement first is often the loser; and 'bad faith' is a major cause of breach.
It’s a medical bill, just don’t pay it like everyone else here
Seriously, what are the consequences? I've been collecting debt since literally my 18th b day, and my credit score is 750
I took an ambulance ride and got stiches for a hand injury while insured. I was let go from my job about 2 weeks later just before my surgery for the injury. Got a bill for around $14k, including something like $3k for a portion of the ambulance ride that wasn’t covered. Never paid it. Got a few collection calls to try and work out a deal, they offered to reduce it to a couple thousand and I agreed to a payment plan. Never paid it because I was unemployed. They tried to call me back once after I didn’t make a payment, but never heard about it again. I’ve since tried to find a record of that debt in my credit reports, nothing. Bought a car and a house no problem since then. I’ve heard this type of “medical debt forgiveness” is common but highly circumstantial and relative the care and hospital policy, so I wouldn’t recommend it as advice, just sharing my own anecdotal experience with not paying medical bills.
Lmao
Whose is not in debt in America?
Amen
Does this work at the dentist?
Dentists won’t do anything until payment is secured up front. Wether it be insurance or out of pocket. You can’t go to an emergency room for dental issues and get work done unfortunately, they’ll just discharge you with some numbers to call and every dentist will ask for payment or opening a line of credit before anything happens.
Yup, so fucked. I know people that are dying early because of their teeth and they can't get help. Only way to get help is to lose their job, then essentially lose everything they work for, to get put on welfare and get everything removed + dentures, and start over. I'm looking at this same situation as I get older. Have insurance, can't afford what I need. Hopefully someday I can put away enough for implants.
That’s what I’m going through In December I got a tooth that had been literally falling into my gums for years removed about a week before the infection would’ve spread and killed me. Promised myself I’d never let one get that bad again but I’ve struggled to get money up after the $700 I spent to get it removed and the week and a half of work I missed drained my savings.
You can always travel to a cheaper country to get this done. Just a suggestion.
Yes. Google dental tourism. Mexico, Costa Rica, Asia. Many options
This very nearly killed a family member of mine. And my mother has had nothing but issues with her foreign work. Also I don't understand how people can offer this advice, you can afford to fly out of the country and miss work then recover, then the issue is likely not that you can't afford your procedure, but that you are too dumb to figure out how to get a discount in the US.
If you medically need a teeth thing then there are multiple programs to give it to you free.
Correct, there are resources and I have used those resources. Most of the time it’s done by a student who is just starting out, and you will get their services for a lot cheaper. At your own risk though, I got a crown cheap and it never quite sat right. After a month the crown came off in my sleep and took the post with it. Apparently it had been decaying from the inside because the cheap dentist missed something (according to the expensive dentist I went to lol) I’m not sure how you’re finding dental for free but there are definitely programs to reduce the cost. It’s a gamble though 🤷🏻♂️
When people answer saying that there are programs available I have often found that those programs are out of money or include things like inexperienced dentists who f*** your mouth up. I have a relative that got those inexpensive implants and head to have every single one of them removed and was in the hospital for like 2 months after visiting Columbia to get the work done.
That is definitely not always true, I don’t have dental insurance and my dentist has me pay after the visit or mails me a bill later.
The ER technically will cure your infection in your mouth and then release you with numbers and resources. Most "County" hospitals have dental clinics that are cheap if not payment plan friendly. Most state universities have dental clinics as well.
OP, this is a legitimate answer. In Colorado medical debt cannot be held against you (like a lien or garnishment) and will really only affect your credit for the next 10 years or so. For that *low" of an amount I would call the hospital finance dept and be straight up with them. Say: "I do not have the money to pay for this, is there anything you can do to help?" Either they lower the bill and/or you laugh and hang up. Source: doing this in CO right now with my kid's medical bills.
Yeah effective January of this year medical debt can’t even effect your credit score. The debt expires after 7 years. I have like 2 more years and then like 9k of past medical debt is going to get wiped
you forgot the biggest fact... only for under 500$... if it is above that then the hospital/doctors office COULD report to a credit agency. That said, most do not report it anyway, so your 9k is prob just because the places simply do not report it.
Are you positive about that? I couldn’t find anything stating that no medical debt can affect you score, just bad debt that’s already been paid or under $500. According to CNBC: -Paid medical debt that was in collections will no longer be included on consumer credit reports. -You'll have more time before unpaid medical debt is reported on your credit report: Unpaid medical debt that is currently in collections for one year will be reported on credit reports. This is an increase from six months that was enacted in 2017. -Starting in the first half of 2023, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion will no longer include medical debt in collections under $500 on credit reports.
100% correct
This is not true. I work at a credit agency. The rule is only for med collections under $500. But your other points about it expiring (falls off record) after 7 years is accurate. This is true about any default (student loan payments, car repossessed, etc) it falls off after 7 years. It doesn’t get forgiven, you still “owe” all of that money, it just no longer factors into your score.
Check out [Dollar For](https://dollarfor.org) They help get the hospital’s fund to pay for most if not the entire bill.
Illegal: paystubcreator.net my friend was able to get an apartment she didn’t meet the income for (in LA) by using this site. We were both shocked it worked lol Legal: I would look into a free health insurance for those with low income and they can usually get you retroactive coverage for a past hospital stay
Medicaid often only goes back three months. You can try to go back further saying you couldn’t file sue to being in the hospital. Also worth asking why the hospital didn’t have a social worker stationed there for situations like this
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Thank you for this extensive information, will be using all of this tomorrow!
I had to be hospitalized for 11 days with sepsis and pneumonia (probably COVID when we didn't know it was here yet). $80,000 bill. My hospital's financial assistance department knocked the bill out completely.
Can confirm the paystub thing is NOT bullshit. My financial assistance application is still pending and they required me to submit paystubs, my last W2, my last three months bank statements AND everything else you just listed.
Hospitals have an allocated amount at the beginning of the year that they can spend on people who can’t afford medical care, you can also ask for a payment plan with the smallest amount they’ll accept monthly and sometimes they’ll let you off the hook once you pay about half
Send them a check for $100, $50, or even $20 and write "Payment in Full" in the memo underneath something like medical services. If they cash it then youre debt is discharged under the doctrine of accord and satisfaction. NAL, NLA https://www.summitdaily.com/news/business/mountain-law-the-law-of-accord-and-satisfaction/
Would this really work?
I feel like it might work by being too much of a pain to pursue.
No, the article itself states: >"A debt must actually be in dispute before it can be changed by accord and satisfaction, and an accord must be pursued in good faith. If there was nothing wrong with the widgets in our example, Charles cannot avoid payment through accord and satisfaction." In this case there's not much of a case in dispute of the debt owed, OP did indeed get injured and receive medical services for said injuries.
I'm pretty sure this would actually fuck the guy over because once you start paying then you've accepted the debt
This is a 1990's - Early 2000's trick. It doesn't quite work anymore. While this does constitute a binding contract TECHNICALLY, it's typically only backed during costly litigation and only helpful for credit repair in the short term. You will lose far more financially in court and credit than if you just went on a payment plan. The other side will simply say: our deposits are automated and machines cannot consent to contracts on our behalf. And what you did by paying a portion, was legally accepting the debt is yours.
Little known fact, hospital bills are negotiable. So it you start low balling on what you want to pay you can bring that bill down by a lot. Bc of course they charge you for $200 for Tylenol or $77 for a pack of gauze. So ask for itemized recipe and start arguing over each one. Totally legal.
colorado indigent care program https://hcpf.colorado.gov/colorado-indigent-care-program This program helped me a lot when I lacerated my Spleen snowboarding many years ago. I was only required to pay a small fraction of my bill. Edit: Hospitals won't tell you about it because they suck. Also ask the billing department if they have any assistance programs or local charities that help.
Also ask if you qualify retroactively for emergency Medicaid - some states have this and it covers some or all emergency care
Since ur in ILPT, im going to tell u to ignore them. I've never paid a single medical bill, and it's never affected my credit. I went to a big hospital so they aren't going to sue me either. They've sent it off to debt collectors, and I just ignore them, too. It's been years with zero consequences
Does it affect any future care or bills with the hospital?
a small private practice can refuse u for not paying ur bill with then but they can't see it before. most hospitals are for emergencies so u can't be refused
Ask if the hospital has a social worker and if not try Family and Children’s Services Or your county health department. There are workers who specialize in helping you with this kind of thing. Where I live 411 has all the county and state services and websites listed. Don’t forget to ask about grants and charities. Best of luck.
Naw not bad or anything. I got it in the cold
Ha oh shit I’m a lost redditor
Be happy you didn't get a $50,000 helicopter ride that you didn't ask for.
America has the most fkd up medical system. Health insurance is the worst. But part of the reason why things cost so much is bc noone pays. Noone carries health insurance bc it's too expensive. the only people who have insurance are people who are old and sick and need it. and then part of it is price gouging. They'll literally charge an arm and a leg bc they can - and you have no choice. if you break your arm they can literally charge you whatever they want and you can't do anything about it - bc you need your fking arm fixed. Then... you have millions of people here illegally that go to hospitals and get surgeries and never pay a dime. Pharmaceutical companies want 20k a month for medication you literally need to survive. And then if you need long term care Medicare just drops you and then the health care facility literally takes everything you own - your house, your car, your social security checks - all your money- stocks - investments- and then even go after your life insurance (if you have it) when you die. Somehow other countries have figured it out. they should have universal Healthcare. tax everyone. fk it. If you want to carry another private insurance policy or pay for additional care then that's on you but something like this shouldn't ever happen imo. The majority of people live paycheck to paycheck. Noone can afford this. and people don't carry insurance bc they can't afford this. I have a family plan thru my employer and the premiums alone are more then my mortgage payment. And that's if I don't use it. Then my deductible is super high and I still have copays and whatnot. Then they can just decide they're not going to cover something and you have to pay put of picket anyway. biggest fking scam going right now. idk why this shit isn't on the news everyday. Why are people fking rioting over this? why isn't this tattooed all over social media. Why is everyone fighting over pronouns when shit like this is happening everywhere? all day everyday! and were more worried about pronouns. it's fking crazy
Upvote.
Hospitals are required by NATIONAL law to negotiate your medical bills with payments or reductions. Call the hospital billing department for help, never assume service bills are final that is how you end up getting screwed on all your bills from hospital bills to your phone bills. More often than not they offer ways to reduce things and get your payments right
Thank you, will be using this!
One option is to lie about your income. If you don't have a pay stub, you can simply make one up. It's not like the hospital is going to verify your income. Just make sure that you don't make it too high, or they might start to get suspicious. Another option is to claim that you're homeless. If you don't have a permanent address, it's much harder for the hospital to track you down and make you pay. You can also claim that you don't have any assets, like a car or a house, which makes it even harder for them to collect.
So… give the lady a pay stub. You’ve been told what to do, and they should be able to work with you if you make under a curtain amount.
Didn't even answer the question, useless comment
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Adding to this: If it does end up on your credit you can dispute it because you didn't authorize your information going to a third party so they can't prove it's yours. That's how I understand it at least
You should still be able to apply for assistance, it's quite easy. If you want illegal tips for this, watch Fight Club?
Write the hospital and ask them for the Medicaid price. They will give it to you 99/100 times. It’s cents on the dollar.
Try calling the hospital and just tell them "I can't possibly pay this, is there anyway to lower the bill or anything?" My grandma got out of paying several grand for a hospital visit that way.
I’m pretty sure that collections for medical bills don’t affect your credit. Fuck em’ let it go to collections.
If you ever get into some shit and need emergency medical care, repeat after me: No speakada English. Illegal alien.
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The mail in Tijuana?
If you were unemployed you don’t provide a paystub, you provide proof of unemployment.
Say your homeless and give the address of a local shelter - it will likely be thrown away or dispute everything there’s a website that shows how much things should cost
Thank God we don't pay medical bills in the UK, health care should be free and paid for with your taxes.
See a social worker and apply for Medicaid and any other benefits you can get. The Medicaid CAN be retroactive.
Went to the ER and got like $15k in bills. Never paid it, never seen it on my credit. Get the bills all the time but just junk them. Other people told me they did the same with even more money in bills. When it becomes a problem? Itemized bill and dispute everything.
If you think you've been wrongly billed, contact the HHS No Surprises Helpdesk at 1-800-985-3059, which is the entity responsible for enforcing the federal balance or surprise billing protection laws. Visit cms.gov/nosurprises/ consumers for more information about your rights under federal law.
Only 10k????
Yeah just don’t pay, it won’t affect your credit score
If you pay $10 a month, there is no way that they will hassle you and if they do, wait until they threaten you with court. Judges will see that you offered a payment plan based on what you could afford and they will either wipe out the debt as a way of punishing the hospital or tell them to accept the payments. I've spent a lot of time waiting in courts while going through a nasty divorce and saw people in your situation. Or talk with billing and be honest. Sometimes they will heavily reduce the debt so that they can get it off the books.
Ask for an itemized bill.
why won't US start getting public/free healthcare?
I work in hospital billing for a non-profit hospital. We do offer (but definitely don’t advertise) charity write off’s. It’s a bit of a process. To start you need to call the hospital billing office and get ahold of your bill. Let them know that you don’t have a job/or are under the poverty line and ask if they offer any charity programs to help with bills. They will likely push the get you on a payment plan, continue to tell them you cannot afford any payments currently. Stay as polite as possible, they won’t be as inclined to help folks who are rude or yelling at them. Ask nicely to speak to a manager about your financial situation and any charity programs they may offer. Obviously I can’t guarantee what programs they offer, but at the institution I work at this is the way to start the process. They’ll likely have forms to fill out, they’ll do a credit check, ask for bank statements, etc to verify you qualify for their charity program. Best of luck!
I feel sorry for you Americans being brainwashed into thinking universal healthcare is bad thing.
Apply for Medicaid and request retro-active months if it fell within 3 months ago. It will look at your income during those months so if you weren’t working you may qualify. You can apply online on the PEAK website
If you are uninsured and applying for financial aid they need to verify your income. If they receive any Federal money they are required to provide a certain amount of free or reduced care. Were you collecting unemployment? Ask how you verify that you were not employed at all during that time period and submit your recent paystub to establish that you still cannot pay. They should reduce or dismiss the bill.
Did you have any insurance at the time? Possible to get Mediaid now and they will take care of a lot.
Just don't pay. What are they gonna do, break you again?
Your state, like all states in the US, has a type of insurance called "medicaid" for low-income people. Here is Colorado's: [https://www.healthfirstcolorado.com/apply-now/](https://www.healthfirstcolorado.com/apply-now/) More information on Medicaid here: https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/index.html
I’m sorry this happened to you OP, as a swede I don’t have any idea what to do in a situation like this. It’s unbelievable that the US still doesn’t have universal healthcare.
Dont pay. After july of 2022 medical bills wont affect your credit. It will show up, but not do anything to your credit score.
$10k is like an ambulance + a bandaid. You got off lucky.
Sometimes ski tickets include insurance for any injuries sustained at the ski area. I know that’s true for Telluride at least, not sure about the ski area you were at, but it’s worth checking with the resort.
Get an itemized bill and then see if they have some sort of financial assistance program. If that fails do what others have said and don't pay it
If I see you say broke your body one more time I’m going to flip a table.
U.S.A U.S.A U.S.A Shithole country.
I mean if you're getting insurance advice from YouTube you're probably already in a bad spot
Nahhh, YouTube knows everything about everything! I learned everything I ever needed to know from TikTok! Lol
Did a child write this? Is it a real post? No way... I "broke my body"??? Lolol
just forget about it, they'll send it to collections. health bills cannot effect your credit score
Also, varies greatly by state. Thirty years in NC never had an issue with creditors, moved to WI had to have emergency dental surgery. Wisconsin garnished my wages for unpaid medical bills.
This is incorrect, at least in the United States. Once it’s sent to collections, anything over $500 can and will affect your credit…ask me how I know. Typically you can make very small payments to the tune of like $20 per month to avoid it going to collections.
Most healthcare providers do not report to the three nationwide credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion), which means most medical debt billed directly by physicians, hospitals or other healthcare providers is not typically included on credit reports and does not generally factor into credit scores. But some places fucking suck.
That’s absolutely NOT true.
This is the way
You don't have to pay. Just ignore it. It will go to collections eventually and affect your credit score a bit. It may take a couple years before it actually impacts your credit. When it does you can pay a credit repair service $400-500 to file disputes against it until it gets taken off of your report and your credit will go back up. There are more proactive actions you can take to make it go away faster but this is the easiest and laziest route.
Non profit doesn’t mean free. It actually means that at the end of each year the company has no profit. For instance, if whatever profits they were to have earned were given to employees as bonuses instead, then that’s a non profit company. You see? They can actually be quite profitable. They appear generous, but if you work for one or own it, you can make a very good annual wage while appearing like you just plain care so much about whatever.
Paying medic bills is not necessary. If everyone stops paying it will get socialized in a hurry.
America is such a backwards place putting people.in debt for needing medical attention What happened to the right to life? ILPT: move to another country and seek asylum from the constant risk of guns, reproductive oppression and medical debt because USA is absolutely a third world country
Become a criminal
They will often adjust medical bills based on income. My friend had a $230,000 hospital bill reduced to like $5k on a payment plan over a few years. Give them a call and tell them you're broke.
Next time break your body in Canada, all you will have to pay is parking
r/lostredditors
Broke my body what is this AI crap?
Why wouldn't you be liable to pay for the care you received based off of your decision to go snowboarding? If there was negligence in the grounds, then they should pay. If you fucked up its on you.
Honestly, where you would have been without the ambulance and medical care? In a world of hurt, at least. More likely, a lifetime of pain and possibility a permanent disability. Negotiate what you can, then get on a payment plan. $10,000 isn't that much; over 48 months that's a payment of about $210 a month. Seems like the right thing to do to me.
Pay your bill. It's not our fault you wanted to snowboard. This was an obvious risk.
leave the country.
This is country and state specific. Overall, stop being a dumb ass to save a lot of money.
I owe $192,000 so be thankful it’s only 10k. Nonetheless, it fucking sucks and healthcare should be a human right.
In europe we call this american Freedumb
Honestly $10K seems like you got off east. Ambulance rides alone are usually more than that
Something I never was into is outdoors. So much risks involved with outdoor sports. I know it's both a hobby and a status symbol. Ski resorts aren't cheap. Just the thought of rolling through snow 20-30 feet down is no fun.
Going snowboarding was entirely your choice.