Did you have an accident, a serious illness or just a short stay in the hospital or did you require outpatient services or extended treatment? Then you probably ended up with a mountain of medical bills. You’re not alone, either. Medical debt has become one of the leading reasons why people file for bankruptcy.
Doctors and hospitals are getting tougher
If you have a huge stack of medical bills, we may not have to tell you this. You may have learned it first hand. But the fact is, doctors and hospitals are getting a lot tougher about collecting on medical bills. In fact, some are becoming downright aggressive. Some doctors, hospitals and clinics are actually turning past-due accounts over to debt collectors. And while you have some protection from these people through the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, many debt collectors simply flaunt those requirements.
You could be sued
Alternately, the medical provider may sue you for what you owe. If they do this, they may be able to get court-ordered permission to freeze your bank account, put liens on your property, seize your assets or even garnish your wages. Plus, they can just flat refuse to treat you or members of your family. Or if you have past-due bills, your doctor or clinic might insist that you pay cash up front before you get any further services.
What you could do
There are some things you could do to help with those medical bills. For example, if you required treatment as a result of an auto accident that wasn’t your fault, you need to make sure that the other driver’s insurance company pays as much of your bills as possible. You might also contact social service organizations and churches in your area to see if any of them might be willing to help with your medical bills. Or you could apply for Medicaid. When you are enrolled in this program in most states, it will pay bills that are three months old – assuming they are for services that Medicaid covers.
Ask for an installment plan
You might be able to set up an installment plan with the doctor or hospital. Before you request a payment plan, be sure to sit down and review all your finances so that you will know how much you can afford to pay monthly. Do not pay more than you can afford. Make sure you understand all the terms and conditions of the installment plan before you sign it. You need to know if you will be charged interest and if so how much.
Pay with a credit card
If you have a credit card that has a low interest, fixed rate with enough available credit, you could pay your medical bills with it. Again, make sure that you can handle the monthly credit card payments.
Get a debt consolidation loan
Could you get a debt consolidation loan? Depending on how much you owe in medical bills, you might be able to get an unsecured loan or what’s called a signature loan. However, if you owe more than $10,000, you would probably have to get a secured loan – or one where you have to provide an asset as collateral.
Choose debt consolidation
We think the best alternative would be to let us consolidate your debts so that you would have only one affordable payment to make per month. Our debt consolidation providers are so convinced they can help you get out of debt and in a reasonable amount of time that they offer a guarantee that if you are ever not satisfied with our suggested debt relief programs you can cancel at anytime and pay no penalties or fees.
Call our toll-free number today for immediate help or fill in our form for a free debt analysis and estimate.