<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>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>FireBeyond</author><text>When you realize that the hospital was charging $19,000 for a stent that cost $1,500, you realize that painting Calver as someone who is going to cost us all money is misdirected anger.&lt;p&gt;And, to be clear, they charged $19,000 for the stent, not &amp;quot;stent plus theater time to place it plus surgeon, anesthesiology, OR nurses&amp;quot;, of course not. Those are all absolutely billed separately.</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>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>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></comment>