Can you ignore a medical bill?

[ck4829]

Not long ago, Catherine did something many other people have done. She ignored a medical bill.

Catherine, who asked me to use only her middle name to protect her privacy, is a white-collar worker in Pennsylvania. “About 10—Jesus, 12—years ago, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s,” she told me, which led her to rack up debt, some of it related to her use of a $46,000-a-year IV-infusion drug. After her mother’s death from brain cancer in 2022, she decided to get her life in order. “I’m on this big journey,” she told me. “I had bills going back to an urgent-care visit I made in college. I was going to get on top of it.”

Yet when she started calling hospitals, doctor’s offices, and collection agencies, she realized that nobody could tell her what she was paying for and why she was being charged a certain amount. Some bills had been forgiven; some were miscoded. “I was like, I’m not going to just send you $500 for this random you-know-what,” she told me. “My takeaway was: Nobody knows what these bills are for.” So she did not pay them. She tossed new ones in the trash. She sent unknown numbers straight to voicemail. Getting on top of her debts meant ignoring them.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/10/ignore-medical-bills/680047/

Medical bills are garbage numbers, we should ALL ignore them.

http://medicalbills.pbworks.com/w/page/151163349/Medical%20bills%20are%20made%20up%20numbers

[underpants]

1. Two options.

Call them and work out a really low payment plan
Or
Pay $5-10 a month on it. If you’re paying they can’t send it to collections.

[TwilightZone]

3. "If you're paying they can't send it to collections. "

This is false. It's a myth that's been around for decades. If you're making less than the minimum payments or haven't worked out a payment plan, your account can be sent to collections at any time.

[underpants]

5. Okay I'm wrong. Thanks. I actually did that once.

Years ago.

[littlemissmartypants]

2. When I was working I was instructed...

That if a patient was unable to pay have them write "unable to pay, financial hardship" on the bill and send it back and it would become a tax write-off. I shared that "inside information" with all of my patients.

I don't know if it applies to all bills for all HC providers however.

I pay insurance companies to pay my medical bills which seems as ridiculous as it sounds because everyone knows insurance companies make their money by not paying for Healthcare.

Meanwhile, we have a physician suicide epidemic in this country with female physicians being hit particularly hard out pacing their male peers.

Thanks for your post, ck4829. It is really interesting.

❤️

[TwilightZone]

4. "Ignore all medical bills" is absolutely horrible advice.

But, sure, let's encourage everyone to fuck up their credit and make their already-complicated lives more difficult.

Better advice: https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-type-of-debt-can-go-to-collections/

[bernieb]

6. Only in America

When my son was young, we had a lot of medical bills. We went bankrupt. We recovered. A lot of people don't. Still happening here.