*posting for a friend*
I had a short hospital stay a year ago after an anaphylactic reaction to something I had never eaten before. I was on Medicaid at the time and figured I'd be good. I was getting bills from the hospital a few months after I was there and contacted my insurance to make sure they'd cover it, and they told me they would and that I wouldn't have to pay anything. Awesome.
Fast forward a year and I start receiving letters and calls from debt collections agencies for the hospital stay, ambulance rides, etc. They tell me that only a portion of the total was covered and that I had to pay them the remainder, which amounted to 5K. They also told me that because it's been over a year, they won't accept any claims from insurance. I hit up my old insurance again and they tell me I shouldn't have to pay for this stuff and will have a patient advocate help me out, but I haven't heard anything in a week.
At this point, it's been almost 2 years since this hospital stay. This all feels really sketchy because they're making it sound like my record and credit score are gonna tank if I don't pay. Then they push these weird payment plans on me, like if I wanted to do $400 for 12 months or $200 for 24 months. Then they asked for my bank account information so I just hung up.
I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm being ambushed and misinformed. I read that medical debt doesn't affect your credit score and mine has still been fine so far. Should I just keep ignoring them like I was previously, assuming the insurance will eventually handle the cost? Is there any consequence to not paying these debts?
Submitted March 30, 2024 at 11:52PM by theongreyjoy96 https://ift.tt/C9H6Gyq
