Unpaid medical bill sent to collection

M

Marybell

Member
Jurisdiction
Kansas
Greetings!
I had a bill for ER visit -- I had a face injury after an incident on my bike, they had to put stitches on my lip. Just to make it clear, it wasn't a multi-hour whole face surgery, not at all. They billed insurance for some absolutely unreasonable amount, the insurance allowed a certain amount, I was responsible for 25% of it. My portion after all was about $250 (it was a pricey hospital as I found out later)
(I was just going thru bills and found that they originally billed $3500 for this service)
The doctor used black stitches, they told me stitches were going to dissolve, nothing extra needed. The healing process was painful, I had to go to several other doctors with this issue. The problem is that some stitches didn't dissolve, they remained on my face (I'm a white woman) black stitches are visible under the skin and cause an esthetic issue. Its been over a year now. I'm pretty sure that whatever could dissolve - already dissolved. Whatever remained is going to stay this way.
I tried to approach the hospital to find out what kind of stitching material they used, not sure why they didn't use skin colored stitches.. They sent me records but it just say they had put dissolvable stitches on. I also wrote a letter to the hospital to express dissatisfaction with the job done and the bill. Their reply was that "You expressed dissatisfaction with the scars, unfortunately scars may be unavoidable" (I never expressed any dissatisfaction with scars.. its a lie)
Anyway, I did let this bill go to collection. I don't have much desire to pay it. I had a change in my working and income situation, got sick with the other illness, couldn't work for some time, and have lots of other medical bills to pay. I heard there is a new law that medical bills under 500 won't be reported to credit bureaus.. Is it safe to ignore the collection company at this point? I do care about my credit score. So far, its been decent. What can happen worst case scenario? Thank you.
 
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Marybell said:
I did let this bill go to collection. I don't have much desire to pay it. I had a change in my working and income situation, got sick with the other illness, couldn't work for some time, and have lots of other medical bills to pay. I heard there is a new law that medical bills under 500 won't be reported to credit bureaus.. Is it safe to ignore the collection company at this point? I do care about my credit score. So far, its been decent. What can happen worst case scenario?
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If you're one of the many with looming medical debts on your credit report, there's relief on the way. The three largest credit bureaus, TransUnion, Equifax and Experian, are removing cleared medical debts from consumers credit reports beginning July 1, 2022.

This means that if you've paid your medical bill in full and the debt is still sitting on your credit report as a negative mark, this negative mark will now be removed. It's part of a larger effort by the Biden administration to decrease or eliminate medical debt as a part of government lending decisions.

For the millions of Americans that are battling an estimated $88 billion in medical debt, according to a report published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last month, it's a big relief.

These debts have had significant long-term financial consequences on consumers as these paid debts that were sent to collections remained as a red-mark on their reports, leaving them with fewer options for housing, loans and credit cards. Moreover, studies show that these debts can rollover into further medical issues such as stress and high blood pressure — leading to even more medical debt.

So, if you've had medical debt in recent years, or are currently dealing with it, know that there's change on the way that can potentially benefit your credit score — and overall financial health.

https://www.cnbc.com/select/medical-debt-credit-report/
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Higher Credit Scores: New Medical Debt Rules Could Give a Boost


Any medical debt under $500 has been removed from Americans' credit reports by major credit bureaus.

There's good news for Americans struggling with medical debt. The three major credit bureaus -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion -- declared that all medical debt under $500 would be removed from credit reports.

Medical debt plagues a wide swath of America -- more than 100 million people and 41% of all adults owe money for health care, per the Kaiser Family Foundation. For years, this debt has been included in credit reports, pushing credit scores down.

In March 2022, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau published a lengthy report questioning the "outsized role" of medical debt on credit reports, and the industry responded. A few months later, the credit bureaus announced they would remove all medical debt that has been paid from credit reports (previously it would stay for seven years).

Along with those two big changes, the credit agencies now give Americans one full year to address outstanding medical bills before they're added to their credit reports.

Learn what you need to know about the changes for medical debt reporting, including how you can confirm that your medical debts have been removed from your credit reports.

Higher Credit Scores: New Medical Debt Rules Could Give a Boost
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Marybell said:
Is it safe to ignore the collection company at this point?
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No.

Even if it doesn't get reported to the credit bureas you can still be sued for the money. They'll get a judgment. It'll cost you more than the $250 when all is said and done. A judgment can follow you around for 10 or 20 years and appear on background and court records checks.

I suggest you pay the $250.

Then consult a few medical malpractice attorneys and review your options. No guarantees, but facial disfigurement could be worth a lot of money. Costs you nothing for initial consultations and malpractice cases are often done on contingency.

By the way any kind of medical treatment, no matter how minor, is outrageously expensive.
 
adjusterjack said:
No.

Even if it doesn't get reported to the credit bureas you can still be sued for the money. They'll get a judgment. It'll cost you more than the $250 when all is said and done. A judgment can follow you around for 10 or 20 years and appear on background and court records checks.

I suggest you pay the $250.

Then consult a few medical malpractice attorneys and review your options. No guarantees, but facial disfigurement could be worth a lot of money. Costs you nothing for initial consultations and malpractice cases are often done on contingency.

By the way any kind of medical treatment, no matter how minor, is outrageously expensive.
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thank you. What are the chances that they would want to sue me over such amount?
 
Marybell said:
thank you. What are the chances that they would want to sue me over such amount?
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It depends a lot on what relationship they have with the law firm they use. Companies that are engaged in a lot of litigation sometimes pay law firms a large flat fee for the year (or whatever time period) and the law firms then handle whatever lawsuits come along during that period. It also make a difference if it would send a warning to the other landlowners similarly situated. If they win in your case, any other land owner in the same situation can assume the same thing will happen to them too. There are other things that may factor into the decision, too. Because so much is unknown here, it is impossible to give you any kind of accurate odds on whether they'll sue.
 
Thank you everyone for your advice. What happened is that collector sent me a settlement offer ($100 less that the original amount) that I will probably pay.

I have a couple of other questions though. I had Echo cardiogram done at the same medical center. They billed my insurance for $7600 (mama mia) . Insurance approved 2400+, my responsibility is 25% or $612. Which is still a lot for me. My friend is a sonographer and she said that echo cardio should be around $1800-2000. I'm just curious if there is no laws that CAPs standard procedures for greedy hospitals. I would love to see them come to a grocery store and the store would sell them a gallon of milk asking $1000. Then they go to check out trying to negotiate $300 instead of that. Good luck. Medical system is absolutely outrageous.

Situation 2. A person who is going thru some complicated medical matter (say neurological Lyme) comes to ER. The ER doesn't want to do anything to help and before discharging the person, they ask a standard question if that person had any thoughts of harming himself or others. The frustrated person says "If nobody wants to help, them maybe I should do something to myself" . They immediately restrict the person's freedom, the person is explaining that it was a bitter joke. Nevertheless, they say they had guidelines and the person may not leave. They confiscate the person's belongings, cell phone, all clothes and make that person wait for several hours dressed in a hospital gown until some sort of "prison" transport arrives to transport that person to another hospital. Meantime, the person's only family, a teenage child who is in another state, trying to contact their parent and can't get ahold of them which sends that teenager into a hysterical state. The person is forced to walk outside (super cold winter day) only in a thin gown and their health was already compromised before arrival to ER) In the other hospital the person is placed in some sort of mental observation unit (double self locking doors, "Someone flew over the Coocoos nest" type) where again he is told that they must observe him for some time. A psychiatrist comes and the person says again that misunderstanding had occurred. they didn't mean to say that. A psychiatrist says he understands but they have to keep the person in the observation for at least 24 hours. The next morning the person is evaluated by psychiatrist again and released home. The person asks to get a prescription for anxiety and insomnia but psycho refuses. Later on, of course the person gets a bill for being kept there and for psychiatrist as well. How legal are their actions? Can anything be done at least not to pay the bills? There was suffering of two people brought on by their actions.
 
Could someone please tell me, why it could happen that the creditor pulled the account back from collectors? Just called collection agency, they said the account is back with the creditor... Im confused.
 
Marybell said:
Could someone please tell me, why it could happen that the creditor pulled the account back from collectors?
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I can offer a guess.

Most debt collectors want 40 to 50% of the funds collected as their fee for collecting the debt.

It MIGHT be that the original holder of the debt wants ALL of the money the debtor offers to settle, eliminating the tribute the debt collector now demands.
 
army judge said:
I can offer a guess.

Most debt collectors want 40 to 50% of the funds collected as their fee for collecting the debt.

It MIGHT be that the original holder of the debt wants ALL of the money the debtor offers to settle, eliminating the tribute the debt collector now demands.
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thank you. What was then the point of sending it to collection in the first place? The collector approached me offering to pay it off at once with 20% discount. The amount was still too high for me to pay it off, so I did nothing. Called them today to find out what was going on and they told me they don't have my account anymore. It was sent back to the hospital.
 
Marybell said:
What was then the point of sending it to collection in the first place?
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Only the holder of your debt can completely answer your question.

I doubt that the debt holder would care to answer it.

Why?

The debt holder, however, is interested in ONE thing, getting you to pay off the debt.
 
Hello everyone again!
I have a large medical bill, I asked for financial assistance options. They sent it to collection, I still wasn't able to pay it off. Then the creditor pulled it from collection back to themselves. I contacted them again and they sent me a financial assistance application. At this time, what I earn isn't sufficient to cover all my living expenses (don't get me wrong, I don't have any unreasonable expenses, I'm just earning little due to some circumstances). I have IRA and every month I have to pull some money out of it to cover basic living expenses. In the financial assistance application, they ask for bank statements for the last 3 months, they will see that I'm pulling money out of IRA. They also ask about the size of my retirement assets. Will it be against me when they see that I'm pulling money out of IRA (means I have funds, even though I don't make enough to even cover basics)?
The bill was very unreasonable amount for a medical procedure. thank you.
 
Marybell said:
Will it be against me when they see that I'm pulling money out of IRA (means I have funds, even though I don't make enough to even cover basics)?
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Your IRA is untouchable by law.

But, of course, they say you can pay more. And you can tell them to piss off and get nothing as you appear to be judgment proof.
 
Marybell said:
Thank you ! By the way, why do they ask about retirements assets, if such assets are untouchable.
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Because at some time the holder of those assets will likely need to cash in those assets, and once they liquidate the retirement investment and park it in a bank account or buy some non exempt asset, it would be fair game for the creditor to attach. Of course actually doing that is not simple since a fair amount of luck is needed on the creditor's part to find out about those assets and get them. Social Security and certain other government benefits do get some protection even after they land in the bank account, but there's a limit to that. See the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) discussion of that. The information given to the creditor will assist in letting them decide how much future effort to spend on trying to collect.
 

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