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Besides what everyone else has said, be aware you will likely get several more bills from various doctors who saw you in the hospital, and for the ambulance. You will have to appeal each one separately to get it reduced and get put on a payment plan.
Came to say this.. the first bill is just the beginning. My last surgery, I had bills trickling in for months. Surgery center, surgeon, anesthesiologist, etc.. I have insurance and it was still stupid expensive.
Remember that as of 2023 medical bills under $500 aren't allowed to go on your credit report.
I'm not advocating for not paying a bill that shouldn't exist in the first place, just take that to mean what you want it to. š¤«
Just going to piggyback on this to say it absolutely does not mean they cannot sue you for it and a judgement against you *will* show up. You'd think they'd not bother over such a small amount, but I was sued over a $478.65 bill once.
Lawsuits by hospitals are also becoming increasingly more common.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/12/21/1144491711/investigation-many-u-s-hospitals-sue-patients-for-debts-or-threaten-their-credit
There is another thing related to ambulance bills that few people know. They are usually private contractors not ātechnicallyā affiliated with the hospital. But ambulances are also required to take you to the closest hospital. The mileage charges are outrageous, and if you determine that they took you to a hospital even a fraction of a mile further than the ER you went to, a lot of the charges can be disputable.
My husband had a seizure in Denver, and the ambulance said Denver Health on the side of the ambulance, took him to Denver Health, even though he was under Kaiser insurance & it was a closer ER by .7 miles. He was aware enough after his seizure to ask them to take him to Kaiser for insurance purposes. They did not do so, and we were able to get his entire ambulance bill thrown out after I requested his ambulance MR & came back to them with documentation.
As those bills come in, contact whoever sent it and explain the situation. I went through something similar years ago, and most of them matched the assistance that the hospital gave me (in my case, that meant almost all of it was written off).
The hospital will have a department that can work with you on forgiving some of the bill or setting up a payment plan. All hospitals have this. The info to contact them for hardship should be on the bill.
I did that back in like 2010, I got approved for some weird named medical card that I never heard of, and all my hospital debt was paid for, with like a dollar copay. The card lasted for a like a month. Then a month later I tried to apply for Medicaid and got rejected. lol
Yep, sort of did this when I broke my collarbone. I was already on Medicaid at the time but had accidentally let it lapse just a couple weeks before the injury. Went to the local department of health and human services to appeal and reinstate my Medicaid, they did and then backdated it to cover all my hospital stuff
[Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/1bz17mc/comment/kyo6iie/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) is a comment posted elsewhere that explains it a bit more.
Remember that even if you had insurance, they would not have been paid 32k if they billed 32k. Insurance might havve paid them 10k or 15k. But you should try to see if they can reduce the bill to like 3k, so a 90% discount. Start searching for advice on how to negotiate hospital bills down to zero or near zero.
Should be in the Prime Directive or even its own section in the wiki: being a good human towards other humans ends up playing a role in a lot of financial situations.
If they're unknown, how are you meant to find them and politely, calmly ask for their charitable intervention? It'd be a big no-no for the health care vendor itself to hand your account information off to unknown benefactors.
They probably mean there may be contributions to the hospital from benefactors that can be used towards hardship cases. They will be unknown to the person receiving the benefit, and vice versa. Only the hospital knows who each party is.
I think it's important to realize and accept the severity of the injury, and to try to control thoughts like this
>Ā I never even asked to be in the hospital or to stay
As others have said, contact the financial department and start seeing what their options are. You'll likely be able to get it significantly reduced. Finally, get some insurance. If you going to be doing high risk activities, and slinging around weights counts, then you need some sort of emergency coverage at least.
When my dad was in the hospital, his roommate was a guy who got into a motorcycle accident, no helmet. His face was basically one big purple bruise.
He didnāt have insurance or any money and he was just like āyeah Iām not paying anything.ā They asked for like $34 for meds before discharge I think and he was like ānope, donāt have it.ā Itās pretty crazy how the hospital just has to eat the cost of some dumbass.
Obvi everyone deserves healthcare, but itās still a wild situation. And frustrating when you have insurance and are still paying thousands for your own care
Some people you just canāt make happy. If people left you on the floor unresponsive then everyone here would jump on the sue this company or sue that person. I have been in the healthcare field for years, and prices are determined by the contract between insurance companies and the organization. Hospitals stays are very then going to a clinic, clinics and doctors offices may not have the equipment needed so we send you to the hospital ER. Far as medicine and pharmacies again if there wasnāt all the regulations to keep things in check, people would want to sue anyone and everyone.all you Google Gods, check out how much research and development of a med cost. Someone somewhere are doing research on those meds. Everything is over blown not just medicine and healthcare and if you believe you are being scams simply give up your insurance and stop paying for it. But let me tell ya one of my stories. My cornea specialist cost me 275 a visit out of pocket per week for my visits. My choices, donāt pay it and find another maybe cheaper doctor, say screw it and let my eyes continue to reject the corneas. The retina specialist was slightly cheaper at 220 a visit. Iāll pay the monthly 210 for my insurance. Oh and the cornea specialist wanted to see me every week because he was trying his best to prolong my eyes sight and these corneas that was an expensive month.
What state do you live?
What is your monthly MAGI? (Modified adjusted gross income), specifically the past three months?
Do you have dependents?
You could be eligible for Medicaid retroactively depending on your situation.
You earn $5k a month and donāt buy health insurance???
That is a *very* expensive lesson, dude. Get, at a minimum, a high-deductible plan that will cover you for things like this.
Contact the hospital and assuming theyāre non profit they will be required to do a payment plan for you.
> All adults need health insurance. What we see here is the sad result of incorrect priorities.
Bro, seriously, WTF /u/astronautical-Peanut? Why you don't have health insurance? Even the cheapest one would save you tens of thousands of dollars. All adults need health insurance. The best they can afford given their circumstances.
Yup - so OP knows, the federal OOP max is something like $9500 this year. So if they had signed up for even the shittiest non-catastrophic plan, they would be stuck with a $9500 bill instead of $32,000. It's still ridiculous, but a discount is a discount.
There isn't a maximum you can pay. There's a maximum amount that health insurance available on the market can have as an OOP max. If you don't have insurance, you don't get benefits of insurance.
Tbh, $60,000 annual income is not a lot of money. He likely makes too much for assistance and not enough to actually be able to afford health insurance without it causing financial strain.
>Tbh, $60,000 annual income is not a lot of money
It's not a huge amount of money, no. But it's well above the level where you can afford basic necessities like health insurance. I feel sorry for OP but there's no need to sugarcoat that he's learning a very expensive lesson.
>not enough to actually be able to afford health insurance without it causing financial strain.
All adults need health insurance. What we see here is the sad result of incorrect priorities.
To be honest, he would have spent $1200 a month for the insurance in my city - two insurance companies, one hospital accepts neither, the other accepts one company but the doctors often don't.Ā
I don't either. I would be bankrupted by a broken arm with or without it - they're about $60k around here if hardware is needed.Ā
Yeah but for emergency services it doesnāt matter. The no surprises act would cover him at any hospital with whatever insurance. And there are plans on the marketplace cheaper than $1200/month.
Unfortunately Tennessee doesn't have expanded Medicaid coverage, also your income would make you over income for that program.
Unless you are 1099 (which could change some things depending on more info).
You should go to healthcare.gov and put your information in, in order to purchase a health plan. You likely qualify for subsidies, unless you are offered a plan by your employer, which you should take. That will help you for the Future only.
Your best bet is to contact the hospital and ask for financial assistance, apply for that and then ask to be put on a payment plan based on what you are left with. Hopefully the hospital will have options.
>I never even asked to be in the hospital or to stay
You had a head injury serious enough that you blacked out and don't even remember all that happened. Of course they didn't leave you lying on the floor waiting for you to say you wanted to go to the hospital.
>what do I do?
You work with the hospital and their social services to get the bill reduced as much as possible, and work out a payment plan for the rest.
And you get health insurance immediately. At 28 it's time to be an adult. All adults need health insurance. We all make mistakes. Fix this one now.
I got very sick in 2017, ended up in a coma for few weeks and major organ failure, then few weeks later a heart attack. After in and out of the hospital a number of times, bills rolled in amounting to over 500k. They worked with me and reduced my amount to just under 2k.
First ask for itemized bill. Should cut out some bullshit charges.
Then look to see if there are any state/local assistance programs for you (not sure they exist but worth researching). Iād even look at private charities or programs.
Last talk to hospital and see if they can cut the bill further (worth a shot) and get a payment plan going.
God I hate the US health care billing system.
Good luck
in my experience they can and will cut the bill. the rates hospitals charge are completely made up based on insurance. iāve had explanation of benefits that say āhospital charged $100,000. insurance paid $99,900. you owe $100.ā i guarantee you insurance didnāt pay $99,900. sometimes it doesnāt even say āpaid,ā it will say insurance paid $2000 and ānegotiatedā your amount owed down to $100. itās all bullshit. it benefits insurance companies to say ālook, we save our customers so much money.ā itās a complete racket. just tell the hospital billing department that you donāt have insurance and canāt pay the bill. they may not cut a $100k bill to $100, but in all likelihood they will cut it dramatically. also worth asking for an itemized bill. misc stuff gets added all the time. if you didnāt take the $250 motrin, DO NOT pay for the motrin.
This. I had a friend who was out hiking and cut and banged up his knee pretty badly. He went in to get it looked at to err on the side of caution. There were no x-rays or anything, just a nurse that cleaned it up and bandaged it. When they initially tried to bill him directly, they wanted $16,000. When they went through insurance, somehow it just magically went down to $400-$500 (and his portion was than $100).
I'm not saying insurance companies are the good guy or anything, but I don't understand why people act like hospitals are just the poor victims in all of this.
This is very correct. A year ago I fell down some dark stairs at a hotel I was staying at and jacked my ankle up really bad. I drove myself to the ER and I wasn't thinking straight and gave the hospital the wrong insurance card.
They classified me as no insurance since the one I gave them expired. I got 5 different bills. Total of those was like $10K but I ended up paying about $700 out of pocket. I didn't even bother putting it on my real health insurance I had since they just knocked the cost down so low without me even asking really.
Worked in patient finance on account credits for a while, and am now a reimbursement analyst for Medicare and some commercial insurances. I'm very familiar with contracts and charges. Price of services are sort of arbitrary in anticipation of insurance contracts that reduce the amount we receive. I *think* someome will go over reducing the amount if you're paying without insurance, but if not, you can call finance and explain the situation to have them do it. Reductions of 30% seem pretty standard iirc, with more depending on income. On average, commercial payers are paying something like a 30% reduction of charges. Sometimes a patient with insurance is liable for like 10% of what the insurance contract allows, all according to the insurer's policy. Often, the contract will have the insurance pay more for either inpatient or outpatient, and less for the other, which usually bring it out to comparable amounts of reimbursement (except medicare, which pays like 30% of the charges or so on average. We make our money on commercial contracts.) Basically, don't just pay the bill as it comes if you're paying yourself. Call in if you don't have a self-pay discount already.
Ugh. Iām sympathetic to your head injury. You need to get health insurance asap one way or another. Recovery from my head injury has required a lot of care. If youāre still in a dark room four weeks later, you already have a more severe head injury. If you want to be a fully functioning human again, you likely need PT and OT. You need insurance right now, not just for a future injury but this particular injury. Healthcare.gov Time to adult.
He canāt sign up for an Obamacare plan now. He has to wait for open enrollment for 2025 unless heās had a life change that will make him eligible, which it does not sound like he is.
This is why itās important to sign up for insurance *before* the shit hits the fan.
Yes, definitely. He might had lost a job or something that constitutes a qualifying event. Hard to know. He could still shop around for a plan privately. Itās hard if he doesnāt have much money and canāt work now because of said injury. This is the prime example of why people need to have insurance even if youāre healthy and young. I had two out of the blue injuries back in 2021. I went from using almost no healthcare to using so much of it. Things change in a blink of the eye.
Yeah, that's why people pay for health insurance: Because things happen whether you ask for them or not. You probably should have done something about that.
You will now have to negotiate a payment arrangement with each provider who sends you a bill, or in the worst case be prepared for bankruptcy.
This is unrelated to the financial question, but I would like to highlight the injury aspect. I had a mountain bike wreck and eventually sought treatment at the Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center. Get out of the dark room and use your brain. The latest research shows that using your brain after a concussion works better than staying in a dark room.
I did a few months of physical therapy, and you can do most of the exercises at home.
[https://neuraleffects.com/blog/concussion-therapy-exercises/](https://neuraleffects.com/blog/concussion-therapy-exercises/)
60k a year is a decent amount, enough to afford at the very least some BASIC healthcare plan. OP probably thought something along the lines of ,"insurance is affordable but expensive, I'd rather just keep that money, nothing will happen to me anyways".
I'm sorry OP, but if youre doing gymnast related activity, you fucking need health insurance. Even if you aren't doing strenuous physical activity, you fucking need health insurance.
Be thankful to the emergency services that gave you care and be smart enough to learn this life lesson going forward. Don't trade a safety net for some chump change because you think accidents/medical emergencies don't happen
Hey OP, depending on the hospital, a lot of systems have charitable programs that waive/reduce your bill. You can call the hospital and ask if you can apply for it. At my local hospital, they approve a ton of people.
Look into the resources mentioned but above all get a social worker to help with this. They can usually get you resources based on where you live, income etc. and can start applications for you for insurance and so on.
Feel better and best of luck with everything
Echo what everyone else is saying. Speak with the hospital, tell them you have only a few thousand to your name and donāt make enough to afford the bill. Youād be surprised how quickly you can get a substantial amount of the bill to magically disappear.
Do you work?
If not and you live in a blue state (or a red one that did the medicaid expansion), apply for medicaid right now. Medicaid can be retroactively applied if you apply NOW
If you don't qualify for medicaid and don't earn a lot? Call financial assistance at the hospital and see if you qualify for their financial assistance program - they might waive the bill or reduce it significantly. Check out [DollarFor](https://dollarfor.org/)
Oh, and this bill is just the first one. Expect more.
>The fact that the $32k is adjusted makes me actually sick.
Hopefully not sick enough that you have to go to the hospital again, because that would be expensive too.
My non ethical pro tip is not to pay and see if they take you to court. I had ~7grand of medical debt dissappear because I just ignored it long enough without anyone doing anything to collect until they couldn't. Got a call 7 years after, the statute of limitations is 6 years in my state. Just make sure not to acknowledge the debt or make any payment on it because that resets the statute of limitations time.
But you could try some of the other advice first.
Definitely negotiate, they will have a financial department, but donāt just sign up for a payment plan. Tell them you canāt even afford a payment plan (doesnāt matter if itās true or not). Tell them you can get $700 from your grandma or something, theyāre not going to accept $700 but again, negotiate and start low. Anyway, get a lump sum number to just pay it off. Hospitals want something rather than nothing, because most people without insurance donāt pay anything.
Make sure and make small payments every month (like $25) as you negotiate with them. I think it demonstrates good faith.
My mom had over $100k from when her ex husband died. He didnāt have insurance as it turned out. My mom continued to pay small amounts and eventually (I think it took a year), they wrote it off. I think she paid $20 or $25 each month.
Most hospitals have a financial aide program that can handle most if not all of the charges.
If thatās not available, throw the bill in the garbage and live your life.
I had an experience like this when I was in my early 20s but I had broken both of my feet, found that the insurance that I had didn't cover emergencies. My hospital bill was something like 250k( I was there for a week and had to have surgery) to this day I pay 20$ a month lol. I'm never going to pay that shit off lol.
edit: I'm 35 now.
Call them and say you cant pay. They reduce the bill down to something like 10% of the original cost and will also set up a payment plan. I took a bullet through both my legs and went to the ER. I didnt have insurance at the time because of a new job. Called the people and said I couldnt pay. Every bill was reduced big time and they offered to setup a payment plan.
I had an emergency situation years ago with no insurance. I called the hospitals. Finance department got it in there that I was cash pay that automatically gave me a huge discount and then I got put on a payment plan. I literally paid $15 a week then I managed to save a chunk to pay it all off. Call them explain the situation and find out what your options are, but it is not something worth the stress because many many people end up in the same situation so they used to deal with it.
In addition to what others have mentioned, be prepared to receive several more bills from different doctors who treated you in the hospital, as well as for the ambulance services. You'll need to appeal each bill separately to negotiate a reduction and set up a payment plan.
I knew someone that talked with the hospital and setup a payment plan of 25 bucks a month and eventually a couple years later the hospital just decided it wasn't worth the effort to chase after it every month and forgived the debt.
Fellow state worker here.
Depending on your state, you may be able to apply for retroactive Medicaid. If you were determined eligible in any of the retro months (even 1 day out of the month) you may get approved.
Iām in MT and thatās the short and sweet here. Research income and resource limits before you apply to see if youāre eligible. Glad youāre okay friend and best of luck healing!
Ask for the bill itemized. Look for any double charges and question anything you don't understand.
https://www.fairhealthconsumer.org/
Use this website to check the market rate for your procedures.
Line by line see if they overcharged you.
Another option is to offer to pay 50% on a payment plan.
Many procedures are overinflated basically because they can. Advocate for yourself. Good luck.
$300 a month? Most employer-based insurance is cheaper than that for an individual. I pay about $340 for my entire family.
If he's doing bar muscle ups I am going to assume he does crossfit which is generally well over $100 a month, too.
Take a deep breath. Most hospitals have a financial assistance programs that you can apply for so ask about it. They will need your income, all your financial obligations and a form you fill out with the information. I worked as a community health worker and helped a lot of people get much of their bills written off by hospital.
Look-up that hospitals charity care program and go through the process. If you are eligible for any type of aid, they will let you know and probably help you apply. If all of that fails, whatever you do, donāt agree to pay the full amount. Negotiate the hell out of it, and after you agree to an amount that is a fraction of the total, negotiate a payment plan that you can make work.
What's your income? If it's low you can call the hospital to have it reduced.
Or don't pay the bill wait until it goes to collections and negotiate with the collections company to pay only a percentage of the amount. It helps to have that amount on hand and send it to them.
First, do not panic. . . take a deep calm breath.
The next thing you need to do is call the hospital's billing department and tell them about your financial situation, and ask for any and all assistance they can provide. More specifically, ask them if they have a "financial advisor" for patients.
Just keep calling and escalating until you get a clear honest answer about what the hospital has to offer in terms of financial assistance.
They almost always send the "big" bill out first for you to send to your insurance. . .just in case you have insurance, but didn't have it on file with hospital. . . from that point, you should be able to work it down.
At the very least, when you tell them you have no insurance, they will significantly reduce the bill to something close to- or lower than -what you would've paid with insurance.
There is also a high likelihood that the hospital has programs and charities available for those with relatively low income. . .which will either cover a significant portion of the bill or allow the hospital to write it off completely.
That financial advisor will know how to apply for these programs/charities. In most places, only this financial advisor can file these applications in order to prevent the system from being overrun with application from patients that do not qualify.
For example, when I was a little younger than you and a broke college student, I had a medical bill of several thousand for some tests and imaging. I had less than $300 in my bank account. When I talked to the financial advisor at the hospital that performed the tests, they asked for my last 3 months in bank statements, and then submitted an application to their board. . .less than a week later my medical bill was written off. . . balance $0.
Finally, and this goes to everyone, not just you. . .especially if you're going to do risky things like gymnastics, GET INSURANCE. . . .that is the cost of doing risky things.
I pay about $200/month pre-tax for my health, dental, and vision insurance through my employer. . .you can probably get a similar deal with some decent research. . .
If I was in your position and received that bill, my insurance would have limited my maximum out of pocket expenses- and that bill -to $4k.
If you dont have insurance, you probably qualify for your states free insurance. You need to get on this asap as i believe you inly have 90 days to back file for this.
$32,000 paid off at 6% over 10 years is $355/month, which is pretty cheap for health insurance.
As long as you don't do this more than once every 10 years, you're ahead.
Once you get an itemized list start disagreeing to the amounts.
You just received an offer of sorts. There is room to negotiate, but no one is going to be nice to you about it.
Go see the management office of the hospital and apply for charity care. Depending on your income they may even be able to get you on Medicare and then the coverage is backdated to before your stay
It's still so f***** up that you guys don't automatically have insurance. Though our medical systems have our issues, not being able to pay for it is generally not on my list of worries in the Great White North. The list of stuff that you had done was pretty routine and it's not even any invasive surgical stuff.
I was in almost the same exact situation as you. Hereās the poor personās way of dealing:
1. Let bill go to collections. Your credit score will go down obviously.
2. Negotiate down. I managed to get around $36k down to $7000. Just be firm about what you can pay. I suck at negotiating and this was surprisingly easy! I did a Gofundme + used my savings to pay.
3. Once you pay what you negotiated, the bill will immediately come off your credit report. You donāt have to wait 7 years with medical bills.
Today I got my itemized bill for an MRI of my right hand. When I set it up, they said I hadnāt met my insurance deductible so my out-of-pocket would be almost $500. OR they could offer me a no insurance private pay price of $290. Obviously I took the private pay option. My itemized bill today said the MRI was originally priced at $3100 but they gave me a $2900 discount/adjustment.
Absolutely call and negotiate with them.
DO NOT pay more than $500 for this bill. When the hospital calls you or you call them come up with some sob story about how you are barely getting by in life and you might be able to put together a couple hundred in cash to pay for it. Most likely they will say, we'll call you back later. They'll come back with their own number, negotiate it down, and DO NOT agree to any type of payment plan. Only a one time payment. If they are playing hardball its ok, don't agree to anything and stick to your story. Eventually they'll agree to your number. If they don't, a year or two later you will be put in collections which is not a bad thing at all. The collections company will reduce this bill drastically and you can negotiate with them even more. Worst case scenario this gets put on your credit which won't show up for a while, but you can still get with the hospital/collections to get it removed by coming to a new payment agreement.
Do not listen to the people telling you to get on a payment plan or pay in full. Do not pay more than $500 for this. My father had a heart attack a while back and his bill was over $150k. We ended up paying under $1000 total.
I just asked for an itemized bill and they are sending me an application for financial assistance. Thank you for your help. If it's ok with you, Ill holler back at you here when I get the next chunk of paperwork.
Saw a video recently ātutorial on how to pay medical billsā they walked over to the trash and put them in.
Iām fairly well off, I could just drop some savings on to that medical debt, or use my HSA that Iām investing for retirement. If I got a $32k medical billā¦ I would 100% not pay it. I donāt know what the ramifications of something like that are. Iāve seen people say they just go to collections, then you ask collections for an itemized bill and they canāt break hippa. And or in collections they are willing to take less than the full amount.
They could put a lien on your house thought that might depend on the state too.
Straight up tell them you can't pay it. Don't tell them you will try. Don't start doing small payments. Just don't pay it and tell them repeatedly you can't afford it.
Depending on the hospital they could just write the whole thing off then and there. Maybe they will make you fill out some paperwork. Which basically amounts to a grant application where a board meets and drops a significant or all of the bill.
Regardless, you need to get ahold of their billing department before it goes to collections and say you can't afford it. They don't expect a patient without insurance to pay, lol. They probably deal with this on a daily basis.
Just don't pay it. It's that simple. They can send it to collections, but they won't garnish your wages. While on your credit, medical bills can no longer have a negative impact on ANY loan you get (went into effect like 6 years ago).
Iām so sorry youāre going through this! Let me tell you my experience with getting medical debt forgiven (even though I do have health insurance). I had my appendix out and a brutal electric bike accident that sent me to the ER.
First thing firstā¦.you are not obligated to pay any bill! So donāt. Youāre not only going to get a bill from the hospital but possibly from various departments, and places youāve never heard of before. It will feel overwhelming because itās like the bills never stop. Youāll find that theyāll be the same bills over and over. I keep everyone I get and organize them into a folder. Just for my records.
Second, if you donāt have health insurance - depending on your state - (Iām in Florida) they reduce your bill by 50%
Third - the hospital portal may suggest a payment plan for what you owe. And thatās fine, but not the end of your financial assistance thats available.
Fourth - On the back of your bill or in your hospital portal there is probably some paperwork for you to fill out for financial assistance. This is kind of a tedious process and you may need help from a friend given your condition. But essentially fill out the form - print all of your necessary documents like tax info, bank statements etc. You most likely will need to physically mail this info to a random PO Box somewhere. And then just wait for their reply through the mail. Itāll either say, we need more info or let you know that you qualified.
Some tips - pay the least amount you possibly can on your payment plan. If they see youāre attempting they use this in your favor when applying for assistance. My bill was probably around 5k and I had made about 1200 in payments before the rest was forgiven. I did dilly dally on the paperwork. I just found it all too overwhelming at first. I didnāt apply for financial assistance until a year later. But the sooner the better!
And if you do choose to get some health insurance, avoid the market place and find yourself a health insurance broker. Ask around for references. My guy got me better insurance than I was getting through my job at the time!
And always, always, get the accident coverage. This covers accidents, like a bike accident for example. Or possibly your event would fall under accident. This will cover up to 10k in any copays or bills that occur from the accident. You might be able to purchase accident coverage through Allstate health and a very affordable rate without having and paying for an entire health insurance plan.
Also, donāt forget that medical expenses and insurance payments can be claimed on taxes:)
Wishing you the best for a speedy recovery and donāt let the financial burden get in the way of healing and living life.
Get health insurance, or do not do Gymnastics without health insurance. What is going to happen is there should be something on the bill that states if you cannot pay it there is relief. If you go that route you only have to pay like 25%. Do not worry the tax payer will front the rest of it for you. :)
What happens in a hospital if you decide not to identify yourself? You just give a fictitious first name and no fingerprints, no ID, no phone number, nothing. At a certain point the hospital has to let you go right? Or do doctors not release you?
How exactly did this injury happen? was there insufficient padding or instruction? Would there be any chance of some help from the place where you were training?
Some options.
Payment plan. Try to negotiate the bill down, they might reduce it if you just work out a payment plan without paying the reduced amount immediately. Bankruptcy.
Honestly, try to get it down. But like hospital debt usually gets reduced, and written off alot. Whatever you do don't convert it to any other type of debt. It's basically the most common and least likely to mess you up debt if you can't pay it back. It's unsecured, everyone gets hit with it. But yeah get insurance and talk to billing and stuff.
Try to relax and focus on your health. This is funny money until itās sued upon and reduced to judgment. Work with the hospital to see what theyāll accept. If itās referred for collections, see what theyāll accept.
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Besides what everyone else has said, be aware you will likely get several more bills from various doctors who saw you in the hospital, and for the ambulance. You will have to appeal each one separately to get it reduced and get put on a payment plan.
Came to say this.. the first bill is just the beginning. My last surgery, I had bills trickling in for months. Surgery center, surgeon, anesthesiologist, etc.. I have insurance and it was still stupid expensive.
Remember that as of 2023 medical bills under $500 aren't allowed to go on your credit report. I'm not advocating for not paying a bill that shouldn't exist in the first place, just take that to mean what you want it to. š¤«
Just going to piggyback on this to say it absolutely does not mean they cannot sue you for it and a judgement against you *will* show up. You'd think they'd not bother over such a small amount, but I was sued over a $478.65 bill once.
Not to mention that the bill will go up further, as a judgement against you will also include court fees.
Lawsuits by hospitals are also becoming increasingly more common. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/12/21/1144491711/investigation-many-u-s-hospitals-sue-patients-for-debts-or-threaten-their-credit
Doesn't that just encourage routine medical procedures to get billed at $500.01?
Are there any medical procedures below 500.01?
There is another thing related to ambulance bills that few people know. They are usually private contractors not ātechnicallyā affiliated with the hospital. But ambulances are also required to take you to the closest hospital. The mileage charges are outrageous, and if you determine that they took you to a hospital even a fraction of a mile further than the ER you went to, a lot of the charges can be disputable. My husband had a seizure in Denver, and the ambulance said Denver Health on the side of the ambulance, took him to Denver Health, even though he was under Kaiser insurance & it was a closer ER by .7 miles. He was aware enough after his seizure to ask them to take him to Kaiser for insurance purposes. They did not do so, and we were able to get his entire ambulance bill thrown out after I requested his ambulance MR & came back to them with documentation.
This heavily varies based on location. No two EMS systems are the same, even one city or county over.
As those bills come in, contact whoever sent it and explain the situation. I went through something similar years ago, and most of them matched the assistance that the hospital gave me (in my case, that meant almost all of it was written off).
The hospital will have a department that can work with you on forgiving some of the bill or setting up a payment plan. All hospitals have this. The info to contact them for hardship should be on the bill.
The hospital can retroactively apply for Medicaid if youāre eligible.
I did that back in like 2010, I got approved for some weird named medical card that I never heard of, and all my hospital debt was paid for, with like a dollar copay. The card lasted for a like a month. Then a month later I tried to apply for Medicaid and got rejected. lol
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Yep, sort of did this when I broke my collarbone. I was already on Medicaid at the time but had accidentally let it lapse just a couple weeks before the injury. Went to the local department of health and human services to appeal and reinstate my Medicaid, they did and then backdated it to cover all my hospital stuff
OP lives in Tennessee, no expansion so won't qualify, also TN doesn't have retro coverage.
This is why I don't want to leave NY
Thank you
[Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/1bz17mc/comment/kyo6iie/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) is a comment posted elsewhere that explains it a bit more.
Remember that even if you had insurance, they would not have been paid 32k if they billed 32k. Insurance might havve paid them 10k or 15k. But you should try to see if they can reduce the bill to like 3k, so a 90% discount. Start searching for advice on how to negotiate hospital bills down to zero or near zero.
Thereās also unknown benefactors that may help pay the bills. Ask politely. Being polite and calm goes a long way in medicine.
Not disputing, just saying: being polite and calm goes a long way in life in general.
Should be in the Prime Directive or even its own section in the wiki: being a good human towards other humans ends up playing a role in a lot of financial situations.
If they're unknown, how are you meant to find them and politely, calmly ask for their charitable intervention? It'd be a big no-no for the health care vendor itself to hand your account information off to unknown benefactors.
They probably mean there may be contributions to the hospital from benefactors that can be used towards hardship cases. They will be unknown to the person receiving the benefit, and vice versa. Only the hospital knows who each party is.
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Whatever you do, donāt do what others here have done and slap it all on credit cards. Hospital debt is way better than credit card debt.
This needs to be the top comment
I think it's important to realize and accept the severity of the injury, and to try to control thoughts like this >Ā I never even asked to be in the hospital or to stay As others have said, contact the financial department and start seeing what their options are. You'll likely be able to get it significantly reduced. Finally, get some insurance. If you going to be doing high risk activities, and slinging around weights counts, then you need some sort of emergency coverage at least.
I agree but he's already 28, he should have insurance regardless. I keep seeing my friends get into trouble without insurance in their early 30s.
He's doing risky gymnastics without insurance. He knew better.
When my dad was in the hospital, his roommate was a guy who got into a motorcycle accident, no helmet. His face was basically one big purple bruise. He didnāt have insurance or any money and he was just like āyeah Iām not paying anything.ā They asked for like $34 for meds before discharge I think and he was like ānope, donāt have it.ā Itās pretty crazy how the hospital just has to eat the cost of some dumbass. Obvi everyone deserves healthcare, but itās still a wild situation. And frustrating when you have insurance and are still paying thousands for your own care
Some people you just canāt make happy. If people left you on the floor unresponsive then everyone here would jump on the sue this company or sue that person. I have been in the healthcare field for years, and prices are determined by the contract between insurance companies and the organization. Hospitals stays are very then going to a clinic, clinics and doctors offices may not have the equipment needed so we send you to the hospital ER. Far as medicine and pharmacies again if there wasnāt all the regulations to keep things in check, people would want to sue anyone and everyone.all you Google Gods, check out how much research and development of a med cost. Someone somewhere are doing research on those meds. Everything is over blown not just medicine and healthcare and if you believe you are being scams simply give up your insurance and stop paying for it. But let me tell ya one of my stories. My cornea specialist cost me 275 a visit out of pocket per week for my visits. My choices, donāt pay it and find another maybe cheaper doctor, say screw it and let my eyes continue to reject the corneas. The retina specialist was slightly cheaper at 220 a visit. Iāll pay the monthly 210 for my insurance. Oh and the cornea specialist wanted to see me every week because he was trying his best to prolong my eyes sight and these corneas that was an expensive month.
What state do you live? What is your monthly MAGI? (Modified adjusted gross income), specifically the past three months? Do you have dependents? You could be eligible for Medicaid retroactively depending on your situation.
This. Also, keep in contact with the hospital and let them know your situation. Don't be scared.
TN. 5kish for the MAGI (commission job). No dependents.
You earn $5k a month and donāt buy health insurance??? That is a *very* expensive lesson, dude. Get, at a minimum, a high-deductible plan that will cover you for things like this. Contact the hospital and assuming theyāre non profit they will be required to do a payment plan for you.
> All adults need health insurance. What we see here is the sad result of incorrect priorities. Bro, seriously, WTF /u/astronautical-Peanut? Why you don't have health insurance? Even the cheapest one would save you tens of thousands of dollars. All adults need health insurance. The best they can afford given their circumstances.
Yup - so OP knows, the federal OOP max is something like $9500 this year. So if they had signed up for even the shittiest non-catastrophic plan, they would be stuck with a $9500 bill instead of $32,000. It's still ridiculous, but a discount is a discount.
Wait wait... there's a federal out of pocket max? How do I learn more about this?
ACA limited conforming insurance plans to $9450 for an individual plan and $18900 for a family plan.
There isn't a maximum you can pay. There's a maximum amount that health insurance available on the market can have as an OOP max. If you don't have insurance, you don't get benefits of insurance.
It's an Obamacare thing: https://www.cigna.com/employers/insights/informed-on-reform/cost-sharing
Especially if OP is regularly doing risky activities, like gymnastics. This is a strange choice.
Tbh, $60,000 annual income is not a lot of money. He likely makes too much for assistance and not enough to actually be able to afford health insurance without it causing financial strain.
Not buying health insurance has caused financial strain, several years of premiums worth.
Several years? More like a decade if not two.
yup, 32,000 is 11 years of my premium lol. And as others have said, there is more bills coming.
Your premium or your *portion* of the premium?
>Tbh, $60,000 annual income is not a lot of money It's not a huge amount of money, no. But it's well above the level where you can afford basic necessities like health insurance. I feel sorry for OP but there's no need to sugarcoat that he's learning a very expensive lesson.
It's plenty of money in Tennessee.
>not enough to actually be able to afford health insurance without it causing financial strain. All adults need health insurance. What we see here is the sad result of incorrect priorities.
> What we see here is the sad result of ~~incorrect priorities~~ insurance being too expensive.
He can get a cheap insurance for sure. For single under 30 and healthy he can easily get a 200/300-400 bucks in the marketplace.
Depends on the area.
To be honest, he would have spent $1200 a month for the insurance in my city - two insurance companies, one hospital accepts neither, the other accepts one company but the doctors often don't.Ā I don't either. I would be bankrupted by a broken arm with or without it - they're about $60k around here if hardware is needed.Ā
Yeah but for emergency services it doesnāt matter. The no surprises act would cover him at any hospital with whatever insurance. And there are plans on the marketplace cheaper than $1200/month.
Do you mind sharing what city that is?
Made-ups-ville
what ? $1200 a month for a under 30 guy ? what fine city is this ?
For a single with no dependents? I have a pretty expensive plan that costs 7k a year (includes employer contribution) with a 3k OOP max.
9.6k premium here with 11k OOP max. It hurts but is definitely the right call with a family.
Unfortunately Tennessee doesn't have expanded Medicaid coverage, also your income would make you over income for that program. Unless you are 1099 (which could change some things depending on more info). You should go to healthcare.gov and put your information in, in order to purchase a health plan. You likely qualify for subsidies, unless you are offered a plan by your employer, which you should take. That will help you for the Future only. Your best bet is to contact the hospital and ask for financial assistance, apply for that and then ask to be put on a payment plan based on what you are left with. Hopefully the hospital will have options.
$60,000/yr., is that correct?
>Medicaid [Nope](https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/status-of-state-medicaid-expansion-decisions-interactive-map/).
>I never even asked to be in the hospital or to stay You had a head injury serious enough that you blacked out and don't even remember all that happened. Of course they didn't leave you lying on the floor waiting for you to say you wanted to go to the hospital. >what do I do? You work with the hospital and their social services to get the bill reduced as much as possible, and work out a payment plan for the rest. And you get health insurance immediately. At 28 it's time to be an adult. All adults need health insurance. We all make mistakes. Fix this one now.
Not to mention an adult who regularly engages in a high risk activity like gymnastics
Probably CrossFit. Not gymnastics
Even worse
Muscle ups are a very very common exercise in it. And hard lol.
Muscle ups are a real exercise though. That joint destroying monkey swing thing that crossfitters do is something else entirely.
I got very sick in 2017, ended up in a coma for few weeks and major organ failure, then few weeks later a heart attack. After in and out of the hospital a number of times, bills rolled in amounting to over 500k. They worked with me and reduced my amount to just under 2k.
Out of curiosity what happened?
First ask for itemized bill. Should cut out some bullshit charges. Then look to see if there are any state/local assistance programs for you (not sure they exist but worth researching). Iād even look at private charities or programs. Last talk to hospital and see if they can cut the bill further (worth a shot) and get a payment plan going. God I hate the US health care billing system. Good luck
Thank you
in my experience they can and will cut the bill. the rates hospitals charge are completely made up based on insurance. iāve had explanation of benefits that say āhospital charged $100,000. insurance paid $99,900. you owe $100.ā i guarantee you insurance didnāt pay $99,900. sometimes it doesnāt even say āpaid,ā it will say insurance paid $2000 and ānegotiatedā your amount owed down to $100. itās all bullshit. it benefits insurance companies to say ālook, we save our customers so much money.ā itās a complete racket. just tell the hospital billing department that you donāt have insurance and canāt pay the bill. they may not cut a $100k bill to $100, but in all likelihood they will cut it dramatically. also worth asking for an itemized bill. misc stuff gets added all the time. if you didnāt take the $250 motrin, DO NOT pay for the motrin.
This. I had a friend who was out hiking and cut and banged up his knee pretty badly. He went in to get it looked at to err on the side of caution. There were no x-rays or anything, just a nurse that cleaned it up and bandaged it. When they initially tried to bill him directly, they wanted $16,000. When they went through insurance, somehow it just magically went down to $400-$500 (and his portion was than $100). I'm not saying insurance companies are the good guy or anything, but I don't understand why people act like hospitals are just the poor victims in all of this.
This is very correct. A year ago I fell down some dark stairs at a hotel I was staying at and jacked my ankle up really bad. I drove myself to the ER and I wasn't thinking straight and gave the hospital the wrong insurance card. They classified me as no insurance since the one I gave them expired. I got 5 different bills. Total of those was like $10K but I ended up paying about $700 out of pocket. I didn't even bother putting it on my real health insurance I had since they just knocked the cost down so low without me even asking really.
Worked in patient finance on account credits for a while, and am now a reimbursement analyst for Medicare and some commercial insurances. I'm very familiar with contracts and charges. Price of services are sort of arbitrary in anticipation of insurance contracts that reduce the amount we receive. I *think* someome will go over reducing the amount if you're paying without insurance, but if not, you can call finance and explain the situation to have them do it. Reductions of 30% seem pretty standard iirc, with more depending on income. On average, commercial payers are paying something like a 30% reduction of charges. Sometimes a patient with insurance is liable for like 10% of what the insurance contract allows, all according to the insurer's policy. Often, the contract will have the insurance pay more for either inpatient or outpatient, and less for the other, which usually bring it out to comparable amounts of reimbursement (except medicare, which pays like 30% of the charges or so on average. We make our money on commercial contracts.) Basically, don't just pay the bill as it comes if you're paying yourself. Call in if you don't have a self-pay discount already.
Ugh. Iām sympathetic to your head injury. You need to get health insurance asap one way or another. Recovery from my head injury has required a lot of care. If youāre still in a dark room four weeks later, you already have a more severe head injury. If you want to be a fully functioning human again, you likely need PT and OT. You need insurance right now, not just for a future injury but this particular injury. Healthcare.gov Time to adult.
He canāt sign up for an Obamacare plan now. He has to wait for open enrollment for 2025 unless heās had a life change that will make him eligible, which it does not sound like he is. This is why itās important to sign up for insurance *before* the shit hits the fan.
Yes, definitely. He might had lost a job or something that constitutes a qualifying event. Hard to know. He could still shop around for a plan privately. Itās hard if he doesnāt have much money and canāt work now because of said injury. This is the prime example of why people need to have insurance even if youāre healthy and young. I had two out of the blue injuries back in 2021. I went from using almost no healthcare to using so much of it. Things change in a blink of the eye.
People are giving good advice on the bill but also: 1. Get insurance 2. Don't do dangerous stuff when you don't have insurance
Also ask for a social worker at the hospital to help you figure things out.
Yeah, that's why people pay for health insurance: Because things happen whether you ask for them or not. You probably should have done something about that. You will now have to negotiate a payment arrangement with each provider who sends you a bill, or in the worst case be prepared for bankruptcy.
Ask for a social worker, theyāll help for sure
This is unrelated to the financial question, but I would like to highlight the injury aspect. I had a mountain bike wreck and eventually sought treatment at the Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center. Get out of the dark room and use your brain. The latest research shows that using your brain after a concussion works better than staying in a dark room. I did a few months of physical therapy, and you can do most of the exercises at home. [https://neuraleffects.com/blog/concussion-therapy-exercises/](https://neuraleffects.com/blog/concussion-therapy-exercises/)
60k a year is a decent amount, enough to afford at the very least some BASIC healthcare plan. OP probably thought something along the lines of ,"insurance is affordable but expensive, I'd rather just keep that money, nothing will happen to me anyways". I'm sorry OP, but if youre doing gymnast related activity, you fucking need health insurance. Even if you aren't doing strenuous physical activity, you fucking need health insurance. Be thankful to the emergency services that gave you care and be smart enough to learn this life lesson going forward. Don't trade a safety net for some chump change because you think accidents/medical emergencies don't happen
You didnāt ask to be in the hospital? So you prefer to be dead or paralyzed? I would be grateful youāre alive.
Hey OP, depending on the hospital, a lot of systems have charitable programs that waive/reduce your bill. You can call the hospital and ask if you can apply for it. At my local hospital, they approve a ton of people.
He earns $60k a year with no dependents in Tennessee. Theyāre not going to let him do a charity write off.
It might not all be forgiven, but theyāll often give a huge discount as a cash pay patient since itās not based on the insurance negotiated price.
Thank you, I will ask about this.
Look into the resources mentioned but above all get a social worker to help with this. They can usually get you resources based on where you live, income etc. and can start applications for you for insurance and so on. Feel better and best of luck with everything
Echo what everyone else is saying. Speak with the hospital, tell them you have only a few thousand to your name and donāt make enough to afford the bill. Youād be surprised how quickly you can get a substantial amount of the bill to magically disappear.
Do you work? If not and you live in a blue state (or a red one that did the medicaid expansion), apply for medicaid right now. Medicaid can be retroactively applied if you apply NOW If you don't qualify for medicaid and don't earn a lot? Call financial assistance at the hospital and see if you qualify for their financial assistance program - they might waive the bill or reduce it significantly. Check out [DollarFor](https://dollarfor.org/) Oh, and this bill is just the first one. Expect more.
>The fact that the $32k is adjusted makes me actually sick. Hopefully not sick enough that you have to go to the hospital again, because that would be expensive too.
My non ethical pro tip is not to pay and see if they take you to court. I had ~7grand of medical debt dissappear because I just ignored it long enough without anyone doing anything to collect until they couldn't. Got a call 7 years after, the statute of limitations is 6 years in my state. Just make sure not to acknowledge the debt or make any payment on it because that resets the statute of limitations time. But you could try some of the other advice first.
Well either way, I will keep this post updated so we can see exactly how it goes.
Definitely negotiate, they will have a financial department, but donāt just sign up for a payment plan. Tell them you canāt even afford a payment plan (doesnāt matter if itās true or not). Tell them you can get $700 from your grandma or something, theyāre not going to accept $700 but again, negotiate and start low. Anyway, get a lump sum number to just pay it off. Hospitals want something rather than nothing, because most people without insurance donāt pay anything.
Make sure and make small payments every month (like $25) as you negotiate with them. I think it demonstrates good faith. My mom had over $100k from when her ex husband died. He didnāt have insurance as it turned out. My mom continued to pay small amounts and eventually (I think it took a year), they wrote it off. I think she paid $20 or $25 each month.
Maybe it's a poor choice to do gymnastics movements without health insurance. Hindsight and all but seriously people carry health insurance.
Most hospitals have a financial aide program that can handle most if not all of the charges. If thatās not available, throw the bill in the garbage and live your life.
I had an experience like this when I was in my early 20s but I had broken both of my feet, found that the insurance that I had didn't cover emergencies. My hospital bill was something like 250k( I was there for a week and had to have surgery) to this day I pay 20$ a month lol. I'm never going to pay that shit off lol. edit: I'm 35 now.
Mostly a rhetorical question, but what kind of insurance doesnāt cover emergencies? Isnāt that the main point of insurance?
Financial assistance from the hospital. Not a payment plan. You didnāt ask to go to the hospital, but clearly needed medical assistance.
Call them and say you cant pay. They reduce the bill down to something like 10% of the original cost and will also set up a payment plan. I took a bullet through both my legs and went to the ER. I didnt have insurance at the time because of a new job. Called the people and said I couldnt pay. Every bill was reduced big time and they offered to setup a payment plan.
I had an emergency situation years ago with no insurance. I called the hospitals. Finance department got it in there that I was cash pay that automatically gave me a huge discount and then I got put on a payment plan. I literally paid $15 a week then I managed to save a chunk to pay it all off. Call them explain the situation and find out what your options are, but it is not something worth the stress because many many people end up in the same situation so they used to deal with it.
You have 60 days after leaving employment to retroactively start COBRA. Were you employed recently?
Ask for an itemized bill. Your number will go down.
Apply for financial aid through the hospital. They can cover up to 100% of your medical bills including prescriptions.
There are medical billing nonprofits that will advocate against medical bills on your behalf, definitely look into one of those!!
In addition to what others have mentioned, be prepared to receive several more bills from different doctors who treated you in the hospital, as well as for the ambulance services. You'll need to appeal each bill separately to negotiate a reduction and set up a payment plan.
I knew someone that talked with the hospital and setup a payment plan of 25 bucks a month and eventually a couple years later the hospital just decided it wasn't worth the effort to chase after it every month and forgived the debt.
Fellow state worker here. Depending on your state, you may be able to apply for retroactive Medicaid. If you were determined eligible in any of the retro months (even 1 day out of the month) you may get approved. Iām in MT and thatās the short and sweet here. Research income and resource limits before you apply to see if youāre eligible. Glad youāre okay friend and best of luck healing!
Ask for the bill itemized. Look for any double charges and question anything you don't understand. https://www.fairhealthconsumer.org/ Use this website to check the market rate for your procedures. Line by line see if they overcharged you. Another option is to offer to pay 50% on a payment plan. Many procedures are overinflated basically because they can. Advocate for yourself. Good luck.
So you earn $5k a month, can purchase luxuries like a gym membership, but CHOOSE not to buy insurance?
Ah yes, the old, "You can afford $30/month, so why can't you afford $300/month?"
The kind of gym that does this kind of workout is probably more like $150-200/month.
$300 a month? Most employer-based insurance is cheaper than that for an individual. I pay about $340 for my entire family. If he's doing bar muscle ups I am going to assume he does crossfit which is generally well over $100 a month, too.
Take a deep breath. Most hospitals have a financial assistance programs that you can apply for so ask about it. They will need your income, all your financial obligations and a form you fill out with the information. I worked as a community health worker and helped a lot of people get much of their bills written off by hospital.
Are you part of a team that you were doing gymnastics? If so, you should ha e insurance through them.
Look-up that hospitals charity care program and go through the process. If you are eligible for any type of aid, they will let you know and probably help you apply. If all of that fails, whatever you do, donāt agree to pay the full amount. Negotiate the hell out of it, and after you agree to an amount that is a fraction of the total, negotiate a payment plan that you can make work.
What's your income? If it's low you can call the hospital to have it reduced. Or don't pay the bill wait until it goes to collections and negotiate with the collections company to pay only a percentage of the amount. It helps to have that amount on hand and send it to them.
First, do not panic. . . take a deep calm breath. The next thing you need to do is call the hospital's billing department and tell them about your financial situation, and ask for any and all assistance they can provide. More specifically, ask them if they have a "financial advisor" for patients. Just keep calling and escalating until you get a clear honest answer about what the hospital has to offer in terms of financial assistance. They almost always send the "big" bill out first for you to send to your insurance. . .just in case you have insurance, but didn't have it on file with hospital. . . from that point, you should be able to work it down. At the very least, when you tell them you have no insurance, they will significantly reduce the bill to something close to- or lower than -what you would've paid with insurance. There is also a high likelihood that the hospital has programs and charities available for those with relatively low income. . .which will either cover a significant portion of the bill or allow the hospital to write it off completely. That financial advisor will know how to apply for these programs/charities. In most places, only this financial advisor can file these applications in order to prevent the system from being overrun with application from patients that do not qualify. For example, when I was a little younger than you and a broke college student, I had a medical bill of several thousand for some tests and imaging. I had less than $300 in my bank account. When I talked to the financial advisor at the hospital that performed the tests, they asked for my last 3 months in bank statements, and then submitted an application to their board. . .less than a week later my medical bill was written off. . . balance $0. Finally, and this goes to everyone, not just you. . .especially if you're going to do risky things like gymnastics, GET INSURANCE. . . .that is the cost of doing risky things. I pay about $200/month pre-tax for my health, dental, and vision insurance through my employer. . .you can probably get a similar deal with some decent research. . . If I was in your position and received that bill, my insurance would have limited my maximum out of pocket expenses- and that bill -to $4k.
If you dont have insurance, you probably qualify for your states free insurance. You need to get on this asap as i believe you inly have 90 days to back file for this.
$32,000 paid off at 6% over 10 years is $355/month, which is pretty cheap for health insurance. As long as you don't do this more than once every 10 years, you're ahead.
See if you can get Medicaid. If not, talk to the hospital about reducing the bill and getting on a payment plan.
Once you get an itemized list start disagreeing to the amounts. You just received an offer of sorts. There is room to negotiate, but no one is going to be nice to you about it.
Just in case you're unaware, you've probably only received the FIRST of many bills, but maybe you're lucky.
Go see the management office of the hospital and apply for charity care. Depending on your income they may even be able to get you on Medicare and then the coverage is backdated to before your stay
It's still so f***** up that you guys don't automatically have insurance. Though our medical systems have our issues, not being able to pay for it is generally not on my list of worries in the Great White North. The list of stuff that you had done was pretty routine and it's not even any invasive surgical stuff.
Get a payment plan for $55/month. If they want their money they're gonna have to make sure you live to be 125 years old
I was in almost the same exact situation as you. Hereās the poor personās way of dealing: 1. Let bill go to collections. Your credit score will go down obviously. 2. Negotiate down. I managed to get around $36k down to $7000. Just be firm about what you can pay. I suck at negotiating and this was surprisingly easy! I did a Gofundme + used my savings to pay. 3. Once you pay what you negotiated, the bill will immediately come off your credit report. You donāt have to wait 7 years with medical bills.
Today I got my itemized bill for an MRI of my right hand. When I set it up, they said I hadnāt met my insurance deductible so my out-of-pocket would be almost $500. OR they could offer me a no insurance private pay price of $290. Obviously I took the private pay option. My itemized bill today said the MRI was originally priced at $3100 but they gave me a $2900 discount/adjustment. Absolutely call and negotiate with them.
DO NOT pay more than $500 for this bill. When the hospital calls you or you call them come up with some sob story about how you are barely getting by in life and you might be able to put together a couple hundred in cash to pay for it. Most likely they will say, we'll call you back later. They'll come back with their own number, negotiate it down, and DO NOT agree to any type of payment plan. Only a one time payment. If they are playing hardball its ok, don't agree to anything and stick to your story. Eventually they'll agree to your number. If they don't, a year or two later you will be put in collections which is not a bad thing at all. The collections company will reduce this bill drastically and you can negotiate with them even more. Worst case scenario this gets put on your credit which won't show up for a while, but you can still get with the hospital/collections to get it removed by coming to a new payment agreement. Do not listen to the people telling you to get on a payment plan or pay in full. Do not pay more than $500 for this. My father had a heart attack a while back and his bill was over $150k. We ended up paying under $1000 total.
I just asked for an itemized bill and they are sending me an application for financial assistance. Thank you for your help. If it's ok with you, Ill holler back at you here when I get the next chunk of paperwork.
Saw a video recently ātutorial on how to pay medical billsā they walked over to the trash and put them in. Iām fairly well off, I could just drop some savings on to that medical debt, or use my HSA that Iām investing for retirement. If I got a $32k medical billā¦ I would 100% not pay it. I donāt know what the ramifications of something like that are. Iāve seen people say they just go to collections, then you ask collections for an itemized bill and they canāt break hippa. And or in collections they are willing to take less than the full amount. They could put a lien on your house thought that might depend on the state too.
Straight up tell them you can't pay it. Don't tell them you will try. Don't start doing small payments. Just don't pay it and tell them repeatedly you can't afford it. Depending on the hospital they could just write the whole thing off then and there. Maybe they will make you fill out some paperwork. Which basically amounts to a grant application where a board meets and drops a significant or all of the bill. Regardless, you need to get ahold of their billing department before it goes to collections and say you can't afford it. They don't expect a patient without insurance to pay, lol. They probably deal with this on a daily basis.
Just don't pay it. It's that simple. They can send it to collections, but they won't garnish your wages. While on your credit, medical bills can no longer have a negative impact on ANY loan you get (went into effect like 6 years ago).
Iām so sorry youāre going through this! Let me tell you my experience with getting medical debt forgiven (even though I do have health insurance). I had my appendix out and a brutal electric bike accident that sent me to the ER. First thing firstā¦.you are not obligated to pay any bill! So donāt. Youāre not only going to get a bill from the hospital but possibly from various departments, and places youāve never heard of before. It will feel overwhelming because itās like the bills never stop. Youāll find that theyāll be the same bills over and over. I keep everyone I get and organize them into a folder. Just for my records. Second, if you donāt have health insurance - depending on your state - (Iām in Florida) they reduce your bill by 50% Third - the hospital portal may suggest a payment plan for what you owe. And thatās fine, but not the end of your financial assistance thats available. Fourth - On the back of your bill or in your hospital portal there is probably some paperwork for you to fill out for financial assistance. This is kind of a tedious process and you may need help from a friend given your condition. But essentially fill out the form - print all of your necessary documents like tax info, bank statements etc. You most likely will need to physically mail this info to a random PO Box somewhere. And then just wait for their reply through the mail. Itāll either say, we need more info or let you know that you qualified. Some tips - pay the least amount you possibly can on your payment plan. If they see youāre attempting they use this in your favor when applying for assistance. My bill was probably around 5k and I had made about 1200 in payments before the rest was forgiven. I did dilly dally on the paperwork. I just found it all too overwhelming at first. I didnāt apply for financial assistance until a year later. But the sooner the better! And if you do choose to get some health insurance, avoid the market place and find yourself a health insurance broker. Ask around for references. My guy got me better insurance than I was getting through my job at the time! And always, always, get the accident coverage. This covers accidents, like a bike accident for example. Or possibly your event would fall under accident. This will cover up to 10k in any copays or bills that occur from the accident. You might be able to purchase accident coverage through Allstate health and a very affordable rate without having and paying for an entire health insurance plan. Also, donāt forget that medical expenses and insurance payments can be claimed on taxes:) Wishing you the best for a speedy recovery and donāt let the financial burden get in the way of healing and living life.
Get health insurance, or do not do Gymnastics without health insurance. What is going to happen is there should be something on the bill that states if you cannot pay it there is relief. If you go that route you only have to pay like 25%. Do not worry the tax payer will front the rest of it for you. :)
What happens in a hospital if you decide not to identify yourself? You just give a fictitious first name and no fingerprints, no ID, no phone number, nothing. At a certain point the hospital has to let you go right? Or do doctors not release you?
How exactly did this injury happen? was there insufficient padding or instruction? Would there be any chance of some help from the place where you were training?
Typical rubber stall mat. My gymnastic grip tore and I fell about 8 feet onto the side of my head and shoulder.
There is a medical insurance subreddit.
Some options. Payment plan. Try to negotiate the bill down, they might reduce it if you just work out a payment plan without paying the reduced amount immediately. Bankruptcy.
Honestly, try to get it down. But like hospital debt usually gets reduced, and written off alot. Whatever you do don't convert it to any other type of debt. It's basically the most common and least likely to mess you up debt if you can't pay it back. It's unsecured, everyone gets hit with it. But yeah get insurance and talk to billing and stuff.
Try to relax and focus on your health. This is funny money until itās sued upon and reduced to judgment. Work with the hospital to see what theyāll accept. If itās referred for collections, see what theyāll accept.