Hello all... I've searched the sight and havent really seen the answer to my questions. I have racked up quite a large sum of medical bills to numerous places. One, that I am still racking up, as I have no health insurance. My question is.. I called one of the hospitals.. they told me that I need to send them a copy of my bank statement (for proof that I have no income coming in) before they will consider writing off the bill. Is there anything that I should be lary about this? Should I request that the write off not be placved on my CR and request it in writing? Another hosptial said that they would do it over the phone. AGain, worried that it will still show up on the report. None of these accounts have been sent to collections. YET. One is going to collection in a matter of days. Thank you in advance for your help!
"Writing it off" doesn't ensure it will not be later sent to collection or sold. How does your state handle medical care for people with no insurance or income? You may have some coverage there, if your assets are below certain levels. I don't know who you check with, (I would think the hospital would know), but possibly someone in public health at the county might know.
In Georgia, the hospital that covers indigent patients is Grady. You do not have to prove you have no insurance or your employment status at Grady.
OK..so you have no medical insurance and have medical bills piling up that you can't pay. My question is.....WTF do you care what happens to your credit report right now??? You are in NO position to be trying to "repair" your credit when you don't have money to pay your bills and accounts are about to go to collections. You ask the question "is there anything I should be leary about" in providing your bank statements to the hospital so that they can determine if you have income before they write your account off. WHY WOULD YOU CARE??? If you EVER have to apply for food stamps, medical assistance, utility help.....they will ALL ask for your bank statements and W2's to determine if you are a legitimate candidate. I simply do NOT understand why people beg for assistance from agencies and then refuse or are afraid to provide them with information to determine if they are in the financial position where they can assist you. I suggest you start doing searches for low-income assistance through the appropriate state agency where you live, talk with the hospital and see if there are charity sources that can cover your expenses, etc. At this point....you should care less that something will be charged off and go to a collection agency...you need to address covering your medical needs.
It's important to determine the status of the hospital where you're receiving care because even if it's *not* a public hospital, hospitals are generally required to provide a measure of charitable care to keep particular state tax breaks. Go to the business office at your hospital, ask them "work with me here" and explain your situation. Get any payment propositions from the hospital in writing and make no written commitments that you believe you wouldn't be able to keep. You have every right to ask for everything in writing because records can be "lost" or destroyed and only paper paves the way. While one hospital may be willing to take financial information over the telephone, a convenience to them and you, I'd write a follow-up letter to that hospital business office reiterating the conversation, information that was passed on to them, and the expected, mutually agreed to result of the conversation. Keep a meticulous log regarding who you speak to in person or on the telephone - with dates and times and subject matter duly noted. County health may be able to provide information and your physician may also be a conduit for info too. If h/she doesn't know, ask them for a name of an individual who *may* know because over 45 million Americans don't have health insurance so you can't be the only individual in the area with mounting medical bills. There also may be a Patient Advocate on staff at the hospital, or an ombudsman, and they could answer more questions.
Even though you might think your finances are falling apart when you have a pile of medical bills, it may still be to your advantage to do what you can to get them covered. If there is some state coverage for a portion of your bills for those with no insurance, low assets or low income, if you fail to get the bills processed properly, you will end up with a larger debt, and be more likely to need to file BK. If processed properly, the amounts charged might be reduced, with the state covering most of the rest, leaving you with far less debt going forward, but you may only have a limited time to correct this before you lose any coverage by the state, or lose any right of appeal if some claims are rejected. I don't know how it is in your state.
Just a thought, especially for all those who may be without health insurance or have families members who aren't covered: Every state government has an Office of the Commissioner of Insurance or it may be known as "State Insurance Commissioner"..... all state offices are probably online with contact information. My suggestion is that by contacting them, they could point you to the appropriate state [public] or private enterprises that assist those without healthcare insurance. I would simply ask, "Does your office offer information or assistance to those who have no healthcare insurance or can you direct me to the offices or individuals who do?" Perhaps by contacting the State Insurance Commissioners in office, every individual in need would have a generic starting point on what particular programs may be available under their state government. HTH
