An increasing number of people in the world are struggling with huge amounts of debt that they find themselves unable to pay off. When it comes to credit card debt or student loans, at least that is something that can be avoided or is a result of your direct choices.
Medical debt, on the other hand, can be a huge financial drain that we can’t reasonably avoid. Did you know that medical debt accounts for more than fifty percent of the debt that Americans have in collections?
1 out of every 6 credit reports contains a medical debt collection, according to the Federal Reserve. Most of these people suffer from a lower credit rating as a result of their unpaid medical debt. How can someone really go about paying off their medical debt, or at least stop themselves from drowning in it?
Organize Your Payables
The first thing you need to do is get everything organized. You need to make a master list of everyone that is owed and figure out what you owe to which medical provider.
This list will include your explanation of benefits (EOBs) from your insurance company if you have valid medical insurance. This will be very helpful for figuring out what you need to pay and what your insurance will take care of.
Get As Many Details As You Can
The next thing you need to do is look through all your medical bills. You need to ask your provider for an itemized bill if they’re vague.
In the case of long hospital stays, there are very high chances of mistakes in your hospital bill, and asking for an itemized one will eliminate those mistakes. Once you’ve got an itemized bill, you need to comb through it and negotiate away any extra or superfluous charges.
Be Realistic In What You Can Manage To Pay
If you have tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills and you start paying what you can, you have to be realistic and understand that you still won’t be done in ten or twenty years. Most providers will not be willing to wait that long, and there is a high chance that you will be sent to collections.
In such a situation, you need to ask yourself a few questions. The first is, can you work out a reasonable payment arrangement with your providers?
If not, then should you perhaps take out a loan to pay off your bills? Finally, would it be in your best interest to get in touch with a bankruptcy attorney?
The bottom line is that medical debt is a very real and dangerous trap that many people find themselves falling into. As such, if you do have any pending medical payments, it is very important for you to stay organized and keep in touch with your insurance company as well as your medical providers.