Health Care and Medical Bills

The Cypress Times ^ | 4/28/10 | Mark Roberts

[Patriot1259]

Medical bills can create a huge amount of stress related to debt management and the emotional and physical toll of health issues. The Commonwealth Fund recently published a survey indicating that 45% of underinsured Americans and 51% of uninsured people have problems paying medical bills. Many of these individuals and families were borrowing to pay off medical bills which only delay the inevitable financial strain and pending problems to pay off debt. Often, consumers are not sure what to do and get deeper into debt by ignoring the problem. If the bill gets turned over to a collection agency, the opportunities to work out a solution substantially decrease. The ability to negotiate a payment with the health care provider disappears.

[goodwithagun]

Borrow money to pay off a medical bill? I was under the impression that docs and hospitals could not charge interest on a bill, and would also work with a paying customer to set up a payment plan. Why would you finance something that doesn’t need financing?