And to expand on the other answers you received, it’s hilarious (and perhaps old now… I saw something about medical debt now being counted on credit scores and I’m sure attacks have been made on medical debts in general) that the advice typically given was to NEVER make a payment on any medical debt, because that counted as a commitment towards paying, and the laws that eventually made medical debts go away no longer applied, so the debt companies would have more ammunition to use against you in court.
Comment on Hospital Bill 1961
thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 3 weeks agoThis sounds so dystopian I’m having a hard time comprehending it… what happens when they provide the mandatory emergency care and invoice someone who just doesn’t have the money to pay?
burntbacon@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
JoMiran@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
It is dystopian, but there arr plenty of programs to mitigate the issue. If you go to a charity or teaching hospital (like the one referenced in the post), and you have no insurance, your bill might be mostly forgiven if not entirely written off. Emergency rooms cannot refuse service and if you are broke, they might write it off. More than likely they will sell off the debt to a third party for a small fraction and those guys will hound you for life. Again, if you are poor, plan ahead (teaching or charity hospital) and you should be fine.
PS: I am sure you have heard of Planned Parenthood due to the GOP’s crusade against abortion. The real thing to note is that they offer pre and post natal services to make sure that mother and child are healthy, free of charge. Every time a Planned Parenthood clinic is forced to close, those services disappear for the poor.
bizarroland@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
And in the rare case where they do not forgive the debt and you do not pay, at some point they write it off for the tax break.
I’m sure they write it off at the original invoiced amount without any discounts so that their tax deduction for you not paying is probably equal to or greater than what they would have made had you paid it.