7 ms·

>Many, many medical bills go unpaid. Several years ago I ended up in the ICU, no insurance, got a ridiculous bill that would have taken the majority of my life

>Many, many medical bills go unpaid. Several years ago I ended up in the ICU, no insurance, got a ridiculous bill that would have taken the majority of my lifetime to pay down. In the end I decided not to even attempt to pay because it was so ridiculously high, decided to just wait the seven years for it to fall off my credit. If the price had been reasonable I would have paid outright or gotten on a payment plan.

MathCodeLove 5y ago
What was the impact on your credit score? I imagine that had an effect on other parts of your life no?
- joenathanone 5y ago
  It hurt my credit score(as in the number quite a bit), but not as much as I thought it would, I was really worried I wouldn’t get approved for things, but I was informed that when underwriters are reviewing credit reports, medical debt doesn’t carry much weight, as ‘everyone’ has it and it doesn’t reflect on how responsible or impulsive the debtor is.
  - dml2135 5y ago
    My worry is that as this happens more and more, the health care industry will come up with their own score, and will refuse to serve people that don’t pay their medical debts.
    - PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
      A law signed by Ronald Reagan prevents denial of treatment based on ability to pay. However, it doesn't specify what treatment will be provided, so more likely, hospitals would use that sort of information to limit treatment to ER-level interventions and then recommend a wait-n-see approach as followup.
    - vel0city 5y ago
      The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act prevents any hospital which accepts Medicare/Medicaid from turning away patients in critical conditions. They have to at least provide stabilization and some kind of basic medical screening services to everyone who arrives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Medical_Treatment_and_Active_Labor_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Medical_Treatment_an... As for other doctor's offices or planned procedures, I think they already can decide to not work with you if you don't pay them. Maybe there's something similar for general practice stuff related to Medicare/Medicaid as well but for exclusively private pay practices I can't imagine something forcing those providers to offer non-emergency services.
  - RealityVoid 5y ago
    As a non-US citizen, the more I read this thread, the more bonkers the whole system is. How the fuck does healthcare even work at all?
    - joenathanone 5y ago
      >How the fuck does healthcare even work at all? It doesn't, unless you are wealthy, otherwise you try and 'walk off' any issues until they become obviously life threatening, then you go to the hospital and if you have insurance, you hope the insurance will approve the operation you need, and if you don't have insurance you hope the cost wont bankrupt you.
- xwdv 5y ago
  There comes a point where your credit score isn’t useful anymore. If you have a good house with a good mortgage and the best credit cards and have taken any other long term loans you need, then you’ve reached the end game. After that point maintaining a high score is just for bragging rights. It makes no sense to pay a massive hospital bill the rest of your life instead of just letting it fall off your credit reports in 7 years.
  - Retric 5y ago
    Jobs will also look at your credit score, but for a retired person it can quickly become meaningless.
    - EGreg 5y ago
      Why do employers care
      - greedo 5y ago
        Employers are looking for stability, so a poor credit score is a proxy for a risky hire (in their minds). Even if 50% of the low scores are due to either medical debt or student loans, it helps them weed out "undesirables."
      - relaxing 5y ago
        You might abuse your position for illicit gain in order to pay off debts.
      - xwdv 5y ago
        So they have an excuse to not hire minorities and people of color who have lower scores on average.
throwawaylinux 5y ago
What does falling off your credit mean? Do you no longer owe anything? Did you go through bankruptcy?
- joenathanone 5y ago
  It means it no longer appears on my credit report or effects my credit score.
  - throwawaylinux 5y ago
    You still owe the money though? Do they just stop chasing you after a while?
    - mcherm 5y ago
      All US states (I think) have some statute of limitations on debt collection, although each state is different. After this amount of time has passed (assuming that no court case has been filed), the courts can no longer be used to demand payment of a debt and the debt effectively ceases to exist legally. (Whether it ceases to exist morally depends on your personal moral system.)
      - throwawaylinux 5y ago
        Interesting, thanks. 3-6 years seems common.
      - lttlrck 5y ago
        But they will send collections after you long before that no? It happened to me (Scrips, CA), while we were trying to negotiate payment with the hospital and the bill was only $500 - I didn't want to pay it out of principal because we were told it was $150 flat rate at the time of service... they were very quick to pull the trigger. Is it at all advisable to ignore collections and risk court appearance?
        5y ago

MathCodeLove 5y ago

What was the impact on your credit score? I imagine that had an effect on other parts of your life no?

joenathanone 5y ago
It hurt my credit score(as in the number quite a bit), but not as much as I thought it would, I was really worried I wouldn’t get approved for things, but I was informed that when underwriters are reviewing credit reports, medical debt doesn’t carry much weight, as ‘everyone’ has it and it doesn’t reflect on how responsible or impulsive the debtor is.
- dml2135 5y ago
  My worry is that as this happens more and more, the health care industry will come up with their own score, and will refuse to serve people that don’t pay their medical debts.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
    A law signed by Ronald Reagan prevents denial of treatment based on ability to pay. However, it doesn't specify what treatment will be provided, so more likely, hospitals would use that sort of information to limit treatment to ER-level interventions and then recommend a wait-n-see approach as followup.
  - vel0city 5y ago
    The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act prevents any hospital which accepts Medicare/Medicaid from turning away patients in critical conditions. They have to at least provide stabilization and some kind of basic medical screening services to everyone who arrives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Medical_Treatment_and_Active_Labor_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Medical_Treatment_an... As for other doctor's offices or planned procedures, I think they already can decide to not work with you if you don't pay them. Maybe there's something similar for general practice stuff related to Medicare/Medicaid as well but for exclusively private pay practices I can't imagine something forcing those providers to offer non-emergency services.
- RealityVoid 5y ago
  As a non-US citizen, the more I read this thread, the more bonkers the whole system is. How the fuck does healthcare even work at all?
  - joenathanone 5y ago
    >How the fuck does healthcare even work at all? It doesn't, unless you are wealthy, otherwise you try and 'walk off' any issues until they become obviously life threatening, then you go to the hospital and if you have insurance, you hope the insurance will approve the operation you need, and if you don't have insurance you hope the cost wont bankrupt you.
xwdv 5y ago
There comes a point where your credit score isn’t useful anymore. If you have a good house with a good mortgage and the best credit cards and have taken any other long term loans you need, then you’ve reached the end game. After that point maintaining a high score is just for bragging rights. It makes no sense to pay a massive hospital bill the rest of your life instead of just letting it fall off your credit reports in 7 years.
- Retric 5y ago
  Jobs will also look at your credit score, but for a retired person it can quickly become meaningless.
  - EGreg 5y ago
    Why do employers care
    - greedo 5y ago
      Employers are looking for stability, so a poor credit score is a proxy for a risky hire (in their minds). Even if 50% of the low scores are due to either medical debt or student loans, it helps them weed out "undesirables."
    - relaxing 5y ago
      You might abuse your position for illicit gain in order to pay off debts.
    - xwdv 5y ago
      So they have an excuse to not hire minorities and people of color who have lower scores on average.

throwawaylinux 5y ago

What does falling off your credit mean? Do you no longer owe anything? Did you go through bankruptcy?

joenathanone 5y ago
It means it no longer appears on my credit report or effects my credit score.
- throwawaylinux 5y ago
  You still owe the money though? Do they just stop chasing you after a while?
  - mcherm 5y ago
    All US states (I think) have some statute of limitations on debt collection, although each state is different. After this amount of time has passed (assuming that no court case has been filed), the courts can no longer be used to demand payment of a debt and the debt effectively ceases to exist legally. (Whether it ceases to exist morally depends on your personal moral system.)
    - throwawaylinux 5y ago
      Interesting, thanks. 3-6 years seems common.
    - lttlrck 5y ago
      But they will send collections after you long before that no? It happened to me (Scrips, CA), while we were trying to negotiate payment with the hospital and the bill was only $500 - I didn't want to pay it out of principal because we were told it was $150 flat rate at the time of service... they were very quick to pull the trigger. Is it at all advisable to ignore collections and risk court appearance?
      - 5y ago