3 ms·

Well first things first you need to realize that the $30,000 price tag takes into account the fact that they think they are charging insurance. If the hospital

by vaksel 18y ago

Well first things first you need to realize that the $30,000 price tag takes into account the fact that they think they are charging insurance. If the hospital realizes you are actually paying this yourself, the price will come down. Second of all you need to realize that there is absolutely no reason for you to pay that amount in a lump sum. Do you think your average person has $30K on hand to pay? Work out a payment plan with the hospital so that you can pay it off a small amount at a time. Third you need to realize that there is pretty much no way to make $30K after taxes "quickly" as a sidejob. So you need to think long term for the solution.

mattchew 18y ago
What vaskel said. You may have more leverage than you think. I'm pretty sure in my state (Kansas) your credit rating cannot be dinged for late payment on a medical bill. Used to be the case anyway. It would be handy to know if that was true for you too. When my father got sick there was a flood of bills. I just sent every creditor $20 a month. I figured they would be happy to get anything since so many people pay nothing. I never made any formal payment plans or arrangments. This worked fine. Another thing you might do is challenge large bills. I challenged a big bill with several charges, don't remember why, but they ended up adjusting it down more than what I asked for, on different charges than the ones I was objecting to. They could not explain this, just "that's what the reviewers came back with". Give them the opportunity.
ars 18y ago
"takes into account the fact that they think they are charging insurance. If the hospital realizes you are actually paying this yourself, the price will come down." Unfortunately it's actually exactly the opposite. The truth is that if you have no insurance you pay more (or at least are billed more). At the minimum get full deductible insurance - it doesn't cover anything (except massive emergencies AKA bills), but they do negotiate good prices for you (usually as part of their full pay plan). For a tiny example: lots of stores have $4 discount drugs. It's a good deal yes - but my insurance got me a price of $2.16 (I don't see how the pharmacy makes any money at all at that price BTW). As a starting point don't ever pay more than half of what they ask! Tell them: I'll pay half, or I'll pay nothing - you pick. You'll see, they'll agree. And you can probably get away with paying just a third. Don't forget to look into all the government and private programs for people in your situation. They exist, and they have lots of hoops to jump through (on purpose, to discourage people from actually using them, while being able to claim they exist) - but if you do it, you can save a lot.

by vaksel 18y ago

mattchew 18y ago

What vaskel said. You may have more leverage than you think. I'm pretty sure in my state (Kansas) your credit rating cannot be dinged for late payment on a medical bill. Used to be the case anyway. It would be handy to know if that was true for you too. When my father got sick there was a flood of bills. I just sent every creditor $20 a month. I figured they would be happy to get anything since so many people pay nothing. I never made any formal payment plans or arrangments. This worked fine. Another thing you might do is challenge large bills. I challenged a big bill with several charges, don't remember why, but they ended up adjusting it down more than what I asked for, on different charges than the ones I was objecting to. They could not explain this, just "that's what the reviewers came back with". Give them the opportunity.

ars 18y ago

"takes into account the fact that they think they are charging insurance. If the hospital realizes you are actually paying this yourself, the price will come down." Unfortunately it's actually exactly the opposite. The truth is that if you have no insurance you pay more (or at least are billed more). At the minimum get full deductible insurance - it doesn't cover anything (except massive emergencies AKA bills), but they do negotiate good prices for you (usually as part of their full pay plan). For a tiny example: lots of stores have $4 discount drugs. It's a good deal yes - but my insurance got me a price of $2.16 (I don't see how the pharmacy makes any money at all at that price BTW). As a starting point don't ever pay more than half of what they ask! Tell them: I'll pay half, or I'll pay nothing - you pick. You'll see, they'll agree. And you can probably get away with paying just a third. Don't forget to look into all the government and private programs for people in your situation. They exist, and they have lots of hoops to jump through (on purpose, to discourage people from actually using them, while being able to claim they exist) - but if you do it, you can save a lot.