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coolcalmaesop t1_j2b2rmk wrote

Reply to comment by PvtPug in Hospital billing legality? by mainemariners

Medical debt is really holding me back and it’s very frustrating. The only thing I’ve ever bought that I can’t afford to keep is my life. I do plan on keeping it, but I’ll be paying for it for.

Thomas Agency can kiss my ass cheeks.

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Beasagdeux t1_j2eyiyq wrote

Markham Associates as well.

MaineHealth hit me with a $2K ER bill a couple months ago.. with a special letter with my first bill telling me I had only until the end of the month because they were planning on sending it to collections. I get it. I have lousy insurance and no income. But honestly.. 2 weeks? What normal person can just write a check for something like that.

Now working on my second bankruptcy due to medical debt.

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coolcalmaesop t1_j2f8kc9 wrote

That is my problem as well…if you are struggling with anything else in life they go to collections before you can set anything up regarding income based repayment with the financial office.

The biggest slap in the face for me is that I owe some bills from pregnancy, yet the hospital I gave birth at changed over to a different records system and now has no record of any of the tests/procedures I’m still supposed to pay for.

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Sticky_Robot t1_j2bafpa wrote

Have you looked into bankruptcy? My friend is a banker who approves loans so his entire job is to look at credit reports and he said the hit to credit from bankruptcy isn't terribly harsh and only lasts a few years. The hit is around 200 to the score if it was decent but if your credit is already bad it can actually increase it.

If paying off your debt is unfeasible it might be better to just walk around with worse credit for a little while.

Edit: The majority of peoples experience with bankruptcy is limited to a game over in Monopoly. If you have extensive medical debt put some real time and effort into researching it. Bankruptcy is a consumer benefit, not a punishment.

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the_paruretic t1_j2be4n0 wrote

7 years.

Stop giving garbage advice to people.

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Sticky_Robot t1_j2bg7ns wrote

Yeah, how long will it take to pay off medical debt? Use your head.

If someone has tens of thousands in medical debt biting the bullet and taking the credit hit will give them significant financial freedom no longer needing to worry about the debt. Bad credit isn't the end of the world when the alternative is drowning in debt. If you can't pay your bills you end up with bad credit anyway lol.

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the_paruretic t1_j2bgnln wrote

>a few years.

That's not the point. Personal bankruptcy stays on your credit for 7 years. Use your head, you fucking idiot.

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Sticky_Robot t1_j2bhwlv wrote

7 years is nothing compared to the damage persistent medical debt can be. No not 10k, but people who get 75k from uninsured surgery and can't pay it off. Bankruptcy doesn't mean you can't buy stuff at all it just hurts it by 150~ points. With decent credit prior you'd still be around 600. If you have bad credit bankruptcy can actually increase your credit score.

Bankruptcy is a consumer benefit, not a penalty. If you can't pay your bills it's much better to go bankrupt than to go deeper and deeper in debt.

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coolcalmaesop t1_j2bf88f wrote

I’ve looked at it but I’m not deep enough in that I think I would need to go that route. Just deep enough that it affects my credit as each bill is broken into multiple accounts instead of just one large single account.

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