Medical Bills, Bad Credit, etc Heeeeeelp!

[BD2003]

So heres the quick version of the story. 2 years ago, 20 years old, parents broke, no insurance. Started feeling really crappy, didnt go away after 2 weeks, finally cracked and went to the hospital.

They kept me there for 3 days, thinking it might be hepatitis A. I was never once informed of the price of anything, and they sure didnt tell me that if it was hepatitis A, theres nothing they can do anyway but tell me to wait it out. All I heard was we want to keep you under observation, we might need to give you a liver transplant.

3 days later, they tell me its hepatitis A as they thought, I asked for the cure, and they told me there is none, and hand me a $7000 bill.

$7000! For what?!? I absolutely refused to pay that bill since it was absolutely outrageous to begin with, they never told me how much any of this would cost even though they knew from the start I was uninsured, they led me on thinking I might need a fvcking transplant scaring the life out of me, and they decided not to tell me that if it was what they thought it was, there was nothing to do anyway.

So instead of giving me the choice to just let me go home and save thousands of dollars, they told me to stay.

2 years later, some collection agency is still hounding me. I'm never home. I refuse to pay this bill. Its not that I dont expect to pay anything, but how do they expect me to pay for all of that when they screwed me around so bad? Hell, they never even sent me an itemized bill, so I dont know what the hell I'm getting charged for anyway!

Wtf should I do? Just ignore the bill collectors? What action can they take against me?

My father seems fairly convinced that the hospital will just write it off after a while, but I'm not so convinced. My credit is so shot off of this one bill I cant get a student credit card!

 

[vi edit]

Do your parents have medical insurance? If so, why aren't you covered under it?

 

[BD2003]

Nope, noone has any insurance. Simply couldnt afford it.

 

[txgixer]

Originally posted by: BD2003
Nope, noone has any insurance. Simply couldnt afford it.

Talk with the Hospital and see if they will discount the charges and setup a payment plan. If you are set on not paying the bill, it "will, is, and will continue to" have a negative impact on your credit rating whether you agreed to the charges or not.

 

[vi edit]

I'm going to tell you up front, and bluntly - insurance is cheaper than having no insurance. Also, that $7,000 bill is actually quite cheap for being in a hospital for three days, plus all of the tests that they ran. Your bill has probably already been discounted quite a bit.

Best thing to do is talk with the hospital in a mature and reasonable manner about the bill, and see if they have long term payment options that you can nickel and dime away on. It's a much better approach than dodging the debt collector and ruining BOTH you and your families credit for the next 7+ years of your life.

Do you belong to a church at all? If so, see if they have any sort of contributions for family medical expenses that can help you out.

 

[BD2003]

Isnt it a little too late to talk it over with the hospital? I think they sent the account over to a collections agency. Besides, wouldnt me talking with them and acknowledging them have them hound me even worse?

 

[vi edit]

If you talk to the hospital about the bills, and show that you are making at least some attempt to repay them, they'll real in the leash on the credit collector.

 

[Codewiz]

Tell the collection agency that you are not paying and to take you to court. Tell them not to call you again and if they do, you will consider it harassment and you will take them to court over harassment.

 

[Vic]

Send the collection agency a letter that firmly states that you do not want them to contact you anymore. Just like with telemarketers, you have the right to inform a collection agency that you do not wish for them to attempt to contact you, your family, or your employer anymore. In the letter, inform them that you will take legal action against them if they continue to attempt to contact you by phone. CC the letter to your state's attorney general.
If their collection was actually valid then they should be able to use the court system, shouldn't they?

If this is the only ding on your credit, don't let anyone beat you up about it when you try to buy something. You might have trouble buying a house until this clears up (5-10 years), but you should be able to finance other items no problem, as this is a medical collection.

 

[txgixer]

Originally posted by: BD2003
Isnt it a little too late to talk it over with the hospital? I think they sent the account over to a collections agency. Besides, wouldnt me talking with them and acknowledging them have them hound me even worse?

I had a somewhat similiar dispute with a Hospital and they sent the claim to a collections agency as well. I was still able to work out a monthly payment plan and they greatly discounted the original amount. However, it still reflected on my credit since I did not start paying until 18 months after they started hounding me about it. Good luck.

 

[Codewiz]

No matter what you do now, your credit will have a bad mark on it and it will be there for a while.

 

[BD2003]

Oh believe me, I do know how much better it is to have insurance. I plan on getting it as soon as I can. But my dad is a fcvking cheap ass. Back at the time he claimed that if they wouldnt go away and write it off, he would pay for it. The other day he says, the worst that can happen is that theyll nail your paycheck for $20 a month. I take that as an indication I'm on my own.

Dont belong to a church, atheist here, in fact I wouldnt be surprised if they charged me for the preacher that came by to bless me even though I specifically asked him not to.

So assuming I just ignored all bill collectors, what would happen?

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: txgixer

Originally posted by: BD2003
Isnt it a little too late to talk it over with the hospital? I think they sent the account over to a collections agency. Besides, wouldnt me talking with them and acknowledging them have them hound me even worse?

I had a somewhat similiar dispute with a Hospital and they sent the claim to a collections agency as well. I was still able to work out a monthly payment plan and they greatly discounted the original amount. However, it still reflected on my credit since I did not start paying until 18 months after they started hounding me about it. Good luck.

How much of a discount? How much did you have to pay a month?

I'm a college student right now, the last thing I can afford is medical bills.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
If you talk to the hospital about the bills, and show that you are making at least some attempt to repay them, they'll real in the leash on the credit collector.

The hospital doesn't care, as they no longer own the bills. They sold the debt for pennies on the dollar to the collection agency.
They wouldn't care anyway. Hospitals and doctors face more deadbeats (no offense, BD) than any other service provider by far. Telling them that you can't pay and want to make arrangements will usually just guarantee that you go a collection agency sooner.
Yes, it is true that some small office doctors and dentists can be very cool with past due bills. They are extremely rare.

Like I said, just inform the collection agency firmly and in writing that you do not want them to attempt to contact you anymore. If they want their money, they can take it to court. If they call you after you send that letter (certified ), then they are out-of-compliance with federal debt collection laws.

 

[txgixer]

Originally posted by: BD2003
Oh believe me, I do know how much better it is to have insurance. I plan on getting it as soon as I can. But my dad is a fcvking cheap ass. Back at the time he claimed that if they wouldnt go away and write it off, he would pay for it. The other day he says, the worst that can happen is that theyll nail your paycheck for $20 a month. I take that as an indication I'm on my own.

Dont belong to a church, atheist here, in fact I wouldnt be surprised if they charged me for the preacher that came by to bless me even though I specifically asked him not to.

So assuming I just ignored all bill collectors, what would happen?

For that amount, I am assuming they will threaten to sue you for the amount. Whether they do or not is anyone's guess.

 

[Codewiz]

I have one acccount in collection on my credit report. It is from Alltel. The dumbass's couldn't get my address correct after i informed alltel my new address twice in writing and once over the phone. After 3 times trying to get them to change my address, I decided to hell with them. I just stop using my cell phone and never had contact with alltel again until i saw the account was in collection for $65. I said to hell with it. That was 3 years ago. If i were to pay it today then it would stay on my credit report for 5 more years. The agency just left me alone.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: PSYWVic

Originally posted by: vi_edit
If you talk to the hospital about the bills, and show that you are making at least some attempt to repay them, they'll real in the leash on the credit collector.

The hospital doesn't care, as they no longer own the bills. They sold the debt for pennies on the dollar to the collection agency.

They wouldn't care anyway. Hospitals and doctors face more deadbeats (no offense, BD) than any other service provider by far. Telling them that you can't pay and want to make arrangements will usually just guarantee that you go a collection agency sooner.
Yes, it is true that some small office doctors and dentists can be very cool with past due bills. They are extremely rare.

Like I said, just inform the collection agency firmly and in writing that you do not want them to attempt to contact you anymore. If they want their money, they can take it to court. If they call you after you send that letter (certified ), then they are out-of-compliance with federal debt collection laws.

Thats what I figured. No offense taken, I know I'm technically being a deadbeat, but a $7000 bill for practically nothing is short of highway robbery. I never said a word to the hospital about refusing to pay. My dad just told me to just throw the bill away. Apparently he's used this technique before, and it worked, but it doesnt seem to be working for me.

Assuming I sent them a letter demanding that they no longer contact me, wouldnt that just make them hurry up and sue me? If I cant afford medical bills, how on earth am I going to be able to afford lawyer bills on top of it?

I assume for this amount its a matter of when, and not if, they will sue me. Does the fact that they kind of jerked me around (although I'm sure they TECHNICALLY didnt), have any meaning in court?

 

[Stark]

Like father, like son.

Call one of those companies that negotiate with your creditors. They may be able to cut the bill down to a reasonable level.

If you signed something saying you would pay, then pay. If you never signed anything, don't pay.

 

[Codewiz]

If you are in college then I bet that your school has some workshops for free legal advice. You could always represent yourself if they did sue. I would just tell them over the phone to stop calling you.

 

[vi edit]

I assume for this amount its a matter of when, and not if, they will sue me. Does the fact that they kind of jerked me around (although I'm sure they TECHNICALLY didnt), have any meaning in court?

Ask yourself this - if they hadn't found anything in those tests and just sent you on your merry way, and a week later you became sick and died, would your family go after the hospital for not being thorough in their testing? Hospitals have to cover their asses for all the malpractice suits that are thrown at them on a daily basis.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

I assume for this amount its a matter of when, and not if, they will sue me. Does the fact that they kind of jerked me around (although I'm sure they TECHNICALLY didnt), have any meaning in court?

Ask yourself this - if they hadn't found anything in those tests and just sent you on your merry way, and a week later you became sick and died, would your family go after the hospital for not being thorough in their testing? Hospitals have to cover their asses for all the malpractice suits that are thrown at them on a daily basis.

My family absolutely wouldnt have.

Pretty sure I signed something, considering on the ambulance ride there they had me convinced I had appendicitis and was about to die.

 

[vi edit]

I want to know why you don't feel like you owe them anything? You were sick. You went there. You tied up a doctors time. You tied up a nurses time. You ate their food. You used their beds. You received testing on equipment that wasn't given to the hospital for free. Simply because they can't offer you a cure doesn't mean that you are absolved for any expenses that you incurred.

$7000 isn't THAT much. It's a part time job for a year. It's a couple extra student loans.

 

[Viper GTS]

Make arrangements to pay the bill, and for God's sake get medical insurance.

Running from it will not work, it will haunt you. You're screwing yourself much more than $7,000 worth by putting it off this long, fix it now & let the recovery process start.

Viper GTS

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Did you go to a county hospital? See if there is a social service that will pay this. Medicaid *MIGHT*... I am sure that you are the only one that this has happened to.

 

[dakata24]

Hell, they never even sent me an itemized bill, so I dont know what the hell I'm getting charged for anyway!

you sure that wasnt on the bill your dad told you to throw away? i've had to go to the hospital quite a few times, and whenever i got a bill from the hospital (just a carbon copy for my records, ya know how insurance takes forever to pay) it had an itemized list of what was done.

definately do something about it. in the past, ive had 1 (one) 60+ day delinquency on a credit card.. when i did a credit check/fico score on myself, it showed as be a major factor in lowering my score.. even though it was probably like $100-200 payment. delinquency for $7000 is gonna look bad on your credit. if you ever plan on getting a loan for a car/house, you better fix it now..