(Oops - I just realized I posted this in the wrong forum. Mods, feel free to move) I'm hoping some of you ladies will have some suggestions here... We recently bought a small house but it needed to be fixed up before we could move in. At this point, the bathroom is completely gutted - no shower, no toilet, no sink, no floor, no wall... It's costing a lot to rebuild it, but we figured we could drain our savings down in order to do it and then start saving to rebuild our cushion. And then last night my husband landed in the emergency room with appendicitis. This morning he had surgery. We have insurance, but it comes with a $5,000 deductible. At this point, we will have a very difficult time rounding up that $5K! Any suggestions for what to do? Who to talk with? Where to even start? The worst part of this is that we are now living in an apartment andpaying rent. We had hoped to get into the house by the end of this month so we wouldn't have to pay rent for October. However - hubby was the one doing the work on the house and now he can't lift anything heavier than a milk jug for the next two weeks. Which means we'll be paying rent again in October...
I don't know any of your other finances, but do you have any kind of a retirement you could pull the money from? Medical emergencies usually cancel out any penalty for early withdraw. Or, you can check with the hospital to see if they have any kind of sliding scale to handle the part of the bill that is your responsibility. We were surprised to qualify for a percentage paid by hospital charities. It's worth looking into.
Well, we had 3 ER visits this year so far, including appendicitis (welcome your hubby to the club). We had mounting medical bills, as well. We found out about Medical Financial Assistance Program from Kaiser (I am assuming the other hospitals have something similiar). We almost didn't apply because my husband makes a decent wage. Well, good thing we did. We qualified. Not only did they forgive all our outstanding ER/Dr/perscription bills from the the 3 major visits, but we have it for the the rest of the year. Then we can reapply for it in January provided our income stays within their guidlines. Just to give you an idea, here in CA the threshold for a family of 5 is $77,000. That's kinda a lot. Also, just so you know, they don't advertise this program. You have to call and ask them what to do about your huge bill. They should then come forward with the info. Hope this helps
Wow! That's amazing! Our income last year (according to the IRS on our tax return) was in the negatives because we started up a business and had a lot of investments into the properties. If they base it on income, we would qualify for sure! I plan to head down to the hospital next week to talk with them and see what they have. Hopefully they'll come through. We do have a bit in a retirement account - I had no idea there was no penalty for medical bills. We'll check into that as well. Thanks ladies!
Yippie for the negative on the taxes!!! The hospital only wanted to see our taxes from the previous year. You should be golden!
Additionally, I've worked out pretty pathetic payment arrangements on a large bill. I was paying $20 a month! I did eventually pay it off in a lump, but having those $20 months to tie me over until I had some more flexibility was pretty nice.
When my dh had heart surgery and then a massive chest infection it was over 100,000 and we had to go bankrupt.But since then we have accrued more medical bills not quite so high but still alot, cant go bankrupt again so everyone just gets 30 bucks each a month.No one has complained as long as Im on time.It will take awhile but we do what we can.
While it won't help now, I would suggest one thing - if you have the resources to do it. Compared to other policies, you have a high deductible ($5,000). For sake of argument, let's say that your policy costs $500/month whereas a policy with a $1,000 deductible costs $600/month. To compensate, why not put aside $100 (or even $50) a month to cover the occasional high medical expense? By the law of averages, you should come out ahead - and you'll have the funds to cope with unexpected events.
Nancy, most hospitals have some sort of plan available for debt-forgiveness (although they don't advertise that fact), and I believe they are required to do a certain dollar amount of "charity" services each year (not a certain amount per patient, but spread over many accounts for the whole year), AND I believe they are required to accept whatever monthly payment toward a bill that the patient can afford - like a pp said, as long as you're on time each month with it they sort of have to accept it.
Check with the hospital to see if they have any programs available to help you pay your deductible. These normally are income/resourse/asset based programs. If you have too many assets which are easy for them to verify, they will assume that you can liquidate these assets in order to pay your medical bill. Also those who claim 0 income, you actually burn yourself down because they do not believe that you dont eat or have a roof over your head. So what most programs do for a 0 income claim, is they take guidelines numbers and apply them to your family size to cover food, shelter, etc. Better off letting them know that you do in fact eat. You can also do what the rest of us do, suck it up and ask them for a payment arrangement. Good luck!
Just to clarify, the hospital programs are mandated and must be used on someone--it might as well be you. They don't pay all or nothing. At one time we qualified for a percentage of our copay. Usually the tiers are 25/50/75/100%. After you find out what you qualify for, then suck it up and ask for payment arrangements.
Nancy, no other words of advice, but how is DH doing? Recovering smoothly? Prayers for his recovery. MT3
Nancy, we also have a high deductible. We have found when we can't pay the bill upon receipt, hospitals have been willing to set up a payment plan. I think it helps if you are proactive and go to them first. Last time, the lady just asked me how much I could afford to pay towards the balance each month, and set that as the payment.
We asked for a payment plan and it was still ridiculously high. They wanted us to pay $20,000 in 12 months! That's the "best" they could offer. It may be that we didn't get into collections. That department might be the one that lets you pay whatever monthly you can afford, $20 or something. We didn't want it to get that far and reflect badly on our credit. Finally after calling about it yet again, the person who answered the phone told us about the financial assistance program. Yeah I don't mind paying what's due, but they have to be reasonable, too. Spread it out longer at least. But also, like someone said, if they have the program available, and I qualify, why not accept it?
Thanks everyone! It's good to know the hospital has programs available to help us. I plan to start asking around on Monday to see what we can figure out. John is doing well. He still hurts, but his surgery was only 36 hours ago so I think that's pretty normal.
Also, look at your rental costs vs hiring a handy man to help you with the intall. If you get someone who's reasonable it might be worth it, especially if you are willing to help out with the work. Maybe Dad can do the schooling while he's recovering?? Edie
We are hoping it will pan out for some people from the local Mormon church to come over and help rebuild the bathroom this weekend. It's not totally confirmed yet, but I think it's going to happen!
Hospitals will rarely forgive a debt when someone has an asset such as a retirement account which can be used to pay that bill. Forgiveness is reserved for those who truely dont have regular monthly income or resourses in which to pay. Actually, I thought as long as I was making an effort to pay my medical bills the hospital would have to accept my payments. That is a myth. They do not have to accept anything lower than balance in full. If they take payments from you, they are being kind. Once I was paying $150.00 a month toward a medical bill and I was taken to collections. I spoke to an attorney and he said they do NOT have to accept anything less than payment in full. If you cant afford their payment plan you might consider paying the balance with your retirement account. My cousin works in the medical billing department and she tries to work with people. Photo copy ALL of your monthly bills, pay stubs, bank statements, etc and let the hospital look them over. At least you will appear to be cooperating with them and see what they can work out. I had surgery on my knee for an injury and they take 4% payments from me which is $160.00 a month. Can I afford it? No but I didnt want my account to go into collections. I tore a ligament in my ankle, went to phys therapy four times to the tune of $240.00, its still not heeled after 3 months so I just have to suck it up-cant afford it. Hope you get it worked out!
I think that it may be different in different states because I worked at the local hospital and I know that they do accept whatever payment you can make. Alot of patients pay $5.00 a month on their bills. While working I was sent to a seminar that taught us how to collect money from patients. I hated that seminar. I'm sure if you talk to the hospital you will be able to come up with a plan that will work, whatever it may be.
