<story><title>Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack</title><url>https://khn.org/news/a-jolt-to-the-jugular-youre-insured-but-still-owe-109k-for-your-heart-attack/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>achoped</author><text>Not always.  My mom had a quadruple bypass about 6 years ago during a gap year where she stopped working but didn&amp;#x27;t have Medicare yet.  Unlucky.  I think she was billed for around $180k.&lt;p&gt;She told them &amp;quot;I&amp;#x27;m on Social Security for $1000&amp;#x2F;mo, I&amp;#x27;ll pay you $50&amp;#x2F;mo&amp;quot;.  It was basically that or sending it to collections and never getting a dime from a retiree.  So they accepted and told her a &amp;quot;non-profit&amp;quot; paid for the doctor&amp;#x27;s portion of the bill, which was all but about $40k.&lt;p&gt;She&amp;#x27;ll probably be around another 10 years max, which means she&amp;#x27;ll end up paying about $10k of that balance.&lt;p&gt;Medical debt is the least concerning type of debt for most lenders.  If you ever fall into this hole, don&amp;#x27;t sweat it. [Unsolicited advice.]  Just let it go to collections.  You&amp;#x27;ll get harassed for a little over a year.  Debt older than a year is almost never pursued by collections agencies.  After things quiet down start sending letters to the credits agencies saying the collections debt has been settled.  The collections agency will usually slip up and not respond at some point and it&amp;#x27;ll be gone from your credit history.</text></item><item><author>jtokoph</author><text>&amp;gt; UPDATE: Monday, shortly after publication and broadcast of this story by Kaiser Health News and NPR, St. David’s said it was now willing to accept $782.29 to resolve the $108,951 balance because Drew Calver qualifies for its “financial assistance discount.”&lt;p&gt;Sounds all fine and dandy until you realize that these charges will just be made up for by people that aren&amp;#x27;t able to get NPR to publish a story about them.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>gav</author><text>I worked with somebody who at 23 was bitten by a cat and it got infected. She didn&amp;#x27;t want to seek medical treatment even though her hand swelled up like crazy--&amp;quot;I don&amp;#x27;t have insurance, I will get better&amp;quot;. I basically forced her to go to the hospital and she ended up spending a couple of days in the ICU. They told her if she waited another day, she might not have made it.&lt;p&gt;Total cost, something around $23,000 I think. This is somebody who was making maybe $10&amp;#x2F;hr. They took a payment plan of around $15&amp;#x2F;month, so she will be paying it back for the next 128 years.</text></comment>
<story><title>Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack</title><url>https://khn.org/news/a-jolt-to-the-jugular-youre-insured-but-still-owe-109k-for-your-heart-attack/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>achoped</author><text>Not always.  My mom had a quadruple bypass about 6 years ago during a gap year where she stopped working but didn&amp;#x27;t have Medicare yet.  Unlucky.  I think she was billed for around $180k.&lt;p&gt;She told them &amp;quot;I&amp;#x27;m on Social Security for $1000&amp;#x2F;mo, I&amp;#x27;ll pay you $50&amp;#x2F;mo&amp;quot;.  It was basically that or sending it to collections and never getting a dime from a retiree.  So they accepted and told her a &amp;quot;non-profit&amp;quot; paid for the doctor&amp;#x27;s portion of the bill, which was all but about $40k.&lt;p&gt;She&amp;#x27;ll probably be around another 10 years max, which means she&amp;#x27;ll end up paying about $10k of that balance.&lt;p&gt;Medical debt is the least concerning type of debt for most lenders.  If you ever fall into this hole, don&amp;#x27;t sweat it. [Unsolicited advice.]  Just let it go to collections.  You&amp;#x27;ll get harassed for a little over a year.  Debt older than a year is almost never pursued by collections agencies.  After things quiet down start sending letters to the credits agencies saying the collections debt has been settled.  The collections agency will usually slip up and not respond at some point and it&amp;#x27;ll be gone from your credit history.</text></item><item><author>jtokoph</author><text>&amp;gt; UPDATE: Monday, shortly after publication and broadcast of this story by Kaiser Health News and NPR, St. David’s said it was now willing to accept $782.29 to resolve the $108,951 balance because Drew Calver qualifies for its “financial assistance discount.”&lt;p&gt;Sounds all fine and dandy until you realize that these charges will just be made up for by people that aren&amp;#x27;t able to get NPR to publish a story about them.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mjcl</author><text>&amp;gt; Medical debt is the least concerning type of debt for most lenders.&lt;p&gt;Just another data point, a large property management company I used to work for specifically exempted bankruptcies due to medical debt when calculating applicant credit scores.</text></comment>