3 ms·

It's like credit report inflation! All my bad debt will seem better when everyone else's is inflated with fake debt! (p.s. Being sick in America is not a fun

It's like credit report inflation! All my bad debt will seem better when everyone else's is inflated with fake debt! (p.s. Being sick in America is not a fun time financially.)

zaroth 9y ago
Sorry to hear that. If you haven't researched it yet, you may be surprised how much govt assistance is available for sick people in the US. Short term disability insurance is provided by most employers and some states and is usually 100% tax free. SSDI and Medicaid also help a lot of people. If you're sick enough to be paying a large fraction of a years salary in healthcare expenses, the better bet may be to stop working entirely and get on Medicaid, SSDI, TANF, etc. until you are back on your feet. But you did say debt which means it's likely you're well past this point.
- quuquuquu 9y ago
  Yeah to echo what zaroth has said, definitely see if you can get on SSDI. It is complex to get a calculated amount, but you deserve the money and I really hope it helps you out. Additionally I can't remember if I hallucinated it, but a lot of lenders have stopped looking at medical debt! Seriously! I read it in a few different places but I don't have official info for you. Lenders would have nobody to lend to if they considered medical debt. I once had a psycho hospital misbill me using fake insurance codes and etc for routine work. My insurance company refused to pay because of the codes the hospital billed me for. So I said lol I'm not giving you $800 for a free physical. They screamed and shouted that they'll see me at collections. Three years later and it never showed up on any of my credit reports. Get you some of that!!
  - katastic 9y ago
    It depends entirely on the lender. Most of my large medical bills end up going to a debt collector and they tend to 2-3 times a day per collector. But, they're not jerks on the phone at least, and try to setup a payment plan. However, I had one MRI that was ~$2000 (typical) and after ~6 months they lowered it to like $400-600. That's the only time any medical provider cut me a deal. Oh, actually, one debt collector gave me a large discount for paying it all in a one-time payment. But I've never had someone simply "not" attempt to collect their debt.
- toomuchtodo 9y ago
  I don't want to take away from your comment, but my mother spent 4 years attempting to obtain disability (and along with it Medicare), only to die 4 days after her final denial letter at the age of 59. 53% of disability claims are denied, and the average SSDI payment is $1171/month. Having helped my mother through the disability process, as well as helping build tooling for disability advocacy non-profits, I can tell you how little government assistance is available to sick people in the US. Are there services available? Possibly. Can you count on receiving them? Absolutely not.
  - zaroth 9y ago
    Agree 100% on the SSDI - it all comes down to the specific condition. Some are easy (Blue Book listings with definitive diagnosis) and some are not at all. Getting Medicare through SSDI will take ~30 months so not too helpful. Medicaid at least, the only qualification is not having too much income. Medicaid I think is way better than Medicare, at least in the states I would live in.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]

It's like credit report inflation! All my bad debt will seem better when everyone else's is inflated with fake debt! (p.s. Being sick in America is not a fun time financially.)

zaroth 9y ago

Sorry to hear that. If you haven't researched it yet, you may be surprised how much govt assistance is available for sick people in the US. Short term disability insurance is provided by most employers and some states and is usually 100% tax free. SSDI and Medicaid also help a lot of people. If you're sick enough to be paying a large fraction of a years salary in healthcare expenses, the better bet may be to stop working entirely and get on Medicaid, SSDI, TANF, etc. until you are back on your feet. But you did say debt which means it's likely you're well past this point.

quuquuquu 9y ago
Yeah to echo what zaroth has said, definitely see if you can get on SSDI. It is complex to get a calculated amount, but you deserve the money and I really hope it helps you out. Additionally I can't remember if I hallucinated it, but a lot of lenders have stopped looking at medical debt! Seriously! I read it in a few different places but I don't have official info for you. Lenders would have nobody to lend to if they considered medical debt. I once had a psycho hospital misbill me using fake insurance codes and etc for routine work. My insurance company refused to pay because of the codes the hospital billed me for. So I said lol I'm not giving you $800 for a free physical. They screamed and shouted that they'll see me at collections. Three years later and it never showed up on any of my credit reports. Get you some of that!!
- katastic 9y ago
  It depends entirely on the lender. Most of my large medical bills end up going to a debt collector and they tend to 2-3 times a day per collector. But, they're not jerks on the phone at least, and try to setup a payment plan. However, I had one MRI that was ~$2000 (typical) and after ~6 months they lowered it to like $400-600. That's the only time any medical provider cut me a deal. Oh, actually, one debt collector gave me a large discount for paying it all in a one-time payment. But I've never had someone simply "not" attempt to collect their debt.
toomuchtodo 9y ago
I don't want to take away from your comment, but my mother spent 4 years attempting to obtain disability (and along with it Medicare), only to die 4 days after her final denial letter at the age of 59. 53% of disability claims are denied, and the average SSDI payment is $1171/month. Having helped my mother through the disability process, as well as helping build tooling for disability advocacy non-profits, I can tell you how little government assistance is available to sick people in the US. Are there services available? Possibly. Can you count on receiving them? Absolutely not.
- zaroth 9y ago
  Agree 100% on the SSDI - it all comes down to the specific condition. Some are easy (Blue Book listings with definitive diagnosis) and some are not at all. Getting Medicare through SSDI will take ~30 months so not too helpful. Medicaid at least, the only qualification is not having too much income. Medicaid I think is way better than Medicare, at least in the states I would live in.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]