Do you pay your medical bills?

I pay when I can afford them

We got billed $3800 for a circumcision….. and then almost $1000 for his first pediatrician visits. My insurance said baby is covered for the first 30 days until he gets added to his dad’s but it wasn’t. Trying to figure out what to do but the bills are piling up like crazy this is America for ya.

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I just started to… but I didn’t used to I’m in the U.S.

We got charged for the pediatrician even though she was supposed to be covered the first 30 days. Health Insurance companies are criminal. As far as hospital bills, sometimes you can negotiate them way down…

Lol the hospital charged me over $2000 for the stupid bassinet she slept in while we were in the hospital. I was like...for that price I should have gotten to take the thing home 🙄!!! I debated about not paying them but...I'll pay them 🙄😒

I have an HSA with my insurance and I have put enough in there to cover all the medical bills that should be coming in for this baby.

@Masha did you call whoever sent the bill and make sure they submitted to the dad’s insurance or ask them to resend it to insurance? I had an issue with my second baby getting on my insurance and once I worked it out I had to have the hospital resubmit the bills to the insurance company.

Smaller bills will mostly just hurt your credit, so basically making it harder to get a loan or rent an apartment, which can last for years. Bigger bills could potentially lead to being sued for the debt, which then might end with a wage garnishment, or a lien on your assets/home. The financial stress can really hurt people’s long term mental health too. It’s a bad system :(

I learned this from the man that came to my old work to explain our insurance plan options. He said that when it comes to having a medical bill from a hospital you can sometimes request something called a settlement. Say your bill is $5,000 and you call the hospital billing department and ask them for a settlement amount. Maybe tell them that you can pay them $3,000 out right then and there (if you have it of course). They could agree and would then erase the rest of the amount you owe. It's like haggling. I just did it with my bill. Owed almost $6,000 and paid only almost $3,000. Not all hospitals do this! But it's DEFINITELY worth trying. Keep in mind that I called and the lady I spoke to asked me if I'd pay $5,000 and I told her I would do $3,000 and she had to get permission from her supervisor. Don't be afraid to ask! Maybe start low?

I never pay my medical bills, mostly because we can't afford to. Nothing has ever happened for not paying them. I still haven't paid for the birth of my child from 15 years ago

I'm in the UK,no medical bill unless you choose to go private, if you have health insurance you usually pay the premium, 200£ for me and the rest is cover but you need to ask your insurance before booking the appointment. I also lived in France, the system is slightly different, you don't pay for hospital, if you go to the doctor or specialist, you pay upfront,usually it's not much, 20 something euros for a normal doctor appointment, then get refunded by your insurance if you have one. If you can't offer one, everything is free usually.

You can call and negotiate to pay less or contest if you have insurance and they aren’t paying you can fight them

Yes. But, we look over every explanation of benefits and bill very thoroughly. I have caught a lot of errors.

I pay most of them most of the time. There have been times I've literally just forgotten and they go to collections. It doesn't seem to have impacted my credit greatly. We had a couple larger bills we put on a payment plan but for the most part I try to just pay them in full when I get them.

Tbh I typically do but there was a big screw up with my ob and insurance company during my last pregnancy. It’s complicated but I ended up with bills I shouldn’t have had and refuse to over pay. Well they eventually sent it to collections. I asked the collections department and they said they don’t report so it’ll never end up on my credit.

I’m in the UK: no medical bills here if you use NHS. I also have a private insurance through my work, depending on your coverage level there might be some bills but I never had to pay anything

Yup I did payment plans had them paid off on 4 months