My experience has been that the hospital sets up the monthly payment amount (sometimes with varying plan options). You can't partially pay, and the payment amou

My experience has been that the hospital sets up the monthly payment amount (sometimes with varying plan options). You can't partially pay, and the payment amount is a simple ($total / plan term). Paying $1 isn't really an option. The last medical bill my family had was something like $3500 and the longest term the hospital offered was 6 months, at $580/mo. I'm sure they're not all the same, but I could certainly see an unexpected $580/mo being able to cripple a family living paycheck to paycheck.