Diabolo

We just had a large medical bill. Around $4000 after insurance.

Its been 6 months. Small bills from doctors external to the hospital have sent it to me and i have paid them. Also i have recived one small bill from the hospital. So they know my address and everything.

They haven't send the large bill (Around $3000). Did they forget or a system glitch. I don't want to call them since i need time anyway to pay such large amount.

What do I do ?
Am i responsible eventhough they didn't send the bill ?
Will me credit rating be affected ?

have anyone faced a similar situation....

Thanks

Sarah

I highly doubt they've forgotten. You're probably just going through the system, medical billing does take a while. I'd be using the time to save up if I were you!

Ozzidoc

Or, you could try offering them 2K to settle it today in cash....

Diabolo

Thanks Sarah and Ozzidoc.

I had talked to my insurance and they have sent a check in January.
One of my co-worker faced the same hospital and insurance co . He got it within 2 months ( 2 weeks after the insurance payment).
Thats why i was spectical.

Negotiating for $2000 is a good option. Scared it might speed up my payment.


What if they never send me the bill ?
Have they ever forgotten or written of ??? ..... day dreaming I guess

ironporer

Knowing how screwed up the medical billing systems are, my guess is they have never sent you a bill...but have notified the credit agencies of your failure to satisfy the debt. Or at least that's what happened after the birth of IP jr...insurance paid $12,000, leaving a $400 or so balance, which we kept waiting to get the bill for- and we did, from a f**king collections agency!!!

Lesley1020

It does take a while, but 6 mos seems an awful long time. I would pull your credit report and make sure they havent put it to some debt collector. If so, you can dispute it because you never received the bill. You can get your report free, from each agency, once per year.

As far as the bill itself, as far as I know, if you come to an agreed monthly payment, it will not be reported to the credit agencies (so long as it hasn't already gone). My close friend had no insurance, had a baby and got a bill for $18,500. She called them, they wrote half of it off, and she pays the nine grand off at $100 per month!!!

Similarly, I have bills from a period when I was uninsured, and negotiated payments with them. Have been sending of $10 and $20 a month to a couple and no adverse credit due to them.

Good luck!

Diabolo

Ooops...

I will surely check my Credit Report .

Yup screwed up insurance system i guess. I will wait for a couple of months more if my credit report is fine.

Even though i had insurance , my bill came to around $4000.
Do they negotiate on that amount ?

Lesley1020

I believe so. Depends on your circumstances I think. Same girl I mentioned before has a lot of medical issues, and even although she has insurance now, she still gets bills because of co-pays. I know she calls every time to discuss part of it being written off, and she is usually successful.

I have heard this many times, but never tried it myself. Perhaps it depends on how much you earn etc.,

Diabolo

Thanks Lesley

As soon as i receive my $3000 bill , i am going to negotiate and try how far it gets. Also looking for errors in my bill .

Lynne

If your health insurance paid a large part of it, it may be that the contract with the hospital is such that the hospital have to write it off. In our area the contract that Blue Cross have with the local hospitals is that they will pay their part and the hospital write the balance off and cannot claim anything, other than copay, from the patient.

If your health insurance only cover say, 80%, and under the plan you are responsible you may want to find out the actual balance owed. Some hospitals don't bother sending but one or two statements then it's off to the credit bureau.

Negotiating with the hospital works. You could ask them what they will take for cash now lump sum payment. In a lot of cases they will reduce it by 30% or more just to get it paid. A lump sum now at a discount is worth more to them than $5.00 a month for the next however many years.

Bob

Keep an eye on it...a mate of mine was involved in an accident at work, broke his ankle, but for some reason it didn't go down as workers comp and they sent him the bill...thought it all got taken care of, and a year later he got a letter from the hospital saying they were suing for none payment etc and his credit rating got wrecked...he's still sorting it out..

Patrick Hasler

My darling Kate ..... Who has been in the medical profesion all her life here informs me that no debts for medical treatment can be refered to your credit history by law.

Ray

Darling Kate is wrong them ... Although it may apply in your state ..

Guest21

I was also told this that it does not effect your credit history.
As Ray said does anyone know if this applies to just some states ?

My mother inlaw is a Medical/Nursing Officer and she told me that it does not effect your history.

ScousePete

My wife's credit report would beg to differ.