While not great, things are a little better in this area than they were a few years ago. 1) Even if it goes to collections, a medical debt won't appear on your

While not great, things are a little better in this area than they were a few years ago. 1) Even if it goes to collections, a medical debt won't appear on your credit report for a full year. 2) Medical debts less than $500 won't ever appear on your credit report. 3) If you pay the debt off later, the entire thing gets expunged from your credit report (i.e, rather than showing you had a debt that went to collections, and then was paid off, it's like the whole thing never happened). These things only apply to medical debts, though, not normal consumer debts. (edit: list formatting)