If you've negotiated paying off a medical bill

[Deleted]

How successful we're you in negotiating a payment plan?  We have a $2000 bill from DS's surgery and I just called the billing center.  I was hoping to do $200/month but they said it has to be paid off in 3 months or it's sent to collections.  We've already spent $4,000 on medical care this year and paying this bill in full will wipe out our savings.  I have bills from an ER visit for DD and a trip to L&D triage still coming, not to mention my delivery in November.  We still have $2,000 until we hit our max oop.

I already explained to them that I'm on a high deductible plan and am current on all my medical payments, but they're not budging.

[Yankees21]

That is crazy, from what I've heard medical places are usually very willing to work with you. Collections is costly for them. I would try to call again and ask for a supervisor.

[Deleted]

Ditto the above They're usually willing to take what you can give and not so demanding about it being paid in a short amount of time.

[kirra]

I've had varying success depending on who the bill is with. Some offices will work with you. My local hospital refused to set up a workable payment plan, though. I was hoping to pay $100 a month for five months, and they said it had to be paid in three or they would send it to collections. I ended up borrowing money to finish paying it on time. They told me that to be eligible for financial aid, a couple cannot make more than $15,000 combined. But that's very dependent on individual hospitals and offices.

[mrs.jacinthe]

Call them back, ask to talk to someone else. That doesn't sound right.

[Deleted]

$15,000 is crazy.

It's really frustrating, because we qualify for state insurance, but I chose to go back to work and carry benefits when DH lost his health insurance at work. Everyone keeps telling me we'd be better off going that route, but I feel so guilty.

[Alyssa]

Ummmmm.....we once argued a medical bill over getting travel vaccinations. The Dr. coded it wrong IMO (I work in medical insurance as a claims tech so I have a little bit of history with medical coding) It was written as 'Preventative' which = no insurance coverage. Both my husband and I got a $900 bill for 4 shots. $200 of that was for administration of the shots which should have only been billed once for the entire office visit.....$50 to administer each shot....GTFO! Anyway we went back and forth with the insurance company and finally lost. I was pissed.

My children's births come with a payment plan option. So we're doing that.

[VeryViolet]

I currently have a $6k bill outstanding. They called me and I told them I could pay $1,500 then and then I would pay monthly as I got money in my HSA. You would have thought this guy hit the lottery he was so happy I was paying something. I would call back and ask to speak to a supervisor or whoever to get this worked out. This has to be a frequent occurrence.

[Deleted]

I just got done speaking with a manager. They agreed to $150/month after I told them they could just send it to collections if they weren't willing to negotiate. I can't stand having to call their bluff.

[Yankees21]

That's annoying they were a pain in the ass, but glad it worked out!