When a surprise medical emergency, such as a heart attack or incident that requires an airlift leads to a bill you cant afford to pay, do not fret.
There are tried and true tactics to negotiate down the bills amount, as well as other ways to get assistance paying what you owe.
Here are rules of thumbs to follow when a medical bill gives you sticker shock, according to experts.
If your insurer doesnt want to pay for treatment you received and has denied coverage of a procedure, find out why.
“Its important to understand the reason for denial,” Braden Pan, founder and CEO of Resolve, a company that helps patients save money on medical bills, told CBS MoneyWatch. “We see claims denied all the time for stupid things, like a patients middle initial was wrong, or their birth date was wrong so the insurance company denied coverage,” he said. In cases like that, Resolve can always successfully clear up the claim, he added.
Other times, an insurance company wont cover the cost of a service that they dont deem medically necessary. All insurers have appeals processes in place. Find out what their process is and file an appeal arguing your case.
“Very often you can appeal and get things covered, but the success rate is slightly lower,” Pan said. It helps to have a doctor or medical provider bolster your case by documenting why what youre being billed for was medically necessary.
Getting a hospital bill can be stressful, especially if it’s more than you expected. You may be wondering how long you actually have to pay it off. The good news is that in most cases, you have some time before a hospital will send an unpaid bill to collections. Here’s what to know about timelines for paying hospital bills and what to do if you get a big medical bill.
Typical Timeline for Paying Hospital Bills
There is no one standard timeline for how long you have to pay a hospital bill. Each hospital or healthcare provider may have their own policies. However, there are some general timeframes to be aware of:
-
30 days – The initial bill is usually due within 30 days of when you receive it. If you miss this deadline, it doesn’t mean you’ll instantly get sent to collections.
-
90 days – If your bill remains unpaid after 30 days, you’ll likely get reminder notices from the hospital over the next 60 days. This gives you about 90 days from the initial bill date before further action.
-
120+ days – If you still haven’t paid after 90 days, the hospital will often continue trying to collect from you directly for a while. Many don’t send bills under $500 to collections at all. For larger balances, 120 days or more may pass before collections is considered.
-
6 months – After about 6 months without payment, there is a high chance your unpaid hospital bill will get referred to a collections agency. The hospital has given you plenty of time, and wants to get paid.
How Hospitals Collect Unpaid Bills
Hospitals have a few options when it comes to collecting unpaid medical bills
-
Send reminder notices in the mail requesting payment
-
Call you directly to follow up and discuss payment plans
-
Assign accounts to internal collections teams to recover balances
-
Refer accounts to external collections agencies after several months
-
Take legal action through the courts for very large, long-overdue balances
Most hospitals will start politely with bills and phone calls, then pursue professional collections before considering legal action. Talking to them early in the process to address the debt is key.
What To Do If You Get A Big Hospital Bill
Getting slammed with a huge hospital bill can be overwhelming. Here are some tips on what to do in that situation:
-
Review the charges – Request an itemized bill and ensure everything looks accurate. Look for errors or duplicate charges.
-
Confirm insurance was billed – Verify your insurer was properly billed for any covered services to reduce your balance.
-
Ask about financial assistance – Many hospitals have financial hardship programs or charity care options if you qualify.
-
Negotiate with the hospital – See if they can offer you a prompt-pay discount or settle for a lower lump sum amount.
-
Set up a payment plan – If you can’t pay the full amount immediately, discuss spread out payments over 6-12 months.
-
Avoid using credit cards – Medical debt won’t incur interest like credit card balances will.
-
Dispute improper bills – For bogus charges, work to get them removed from your account.
-
Seek legal aid – If all else fails, nonprofit legal aid in your state may be able to provide assistance.
The key is to not ignore big medical bills and be proactive about handling them. Communicate with the hospital billing office right away to understand your options and make payment arrangements if possible.
When Hospital Bills Go To Collections
If you still have not paid your bill after several months and many attempts by the hospital to collect, your account will likely get referred to an outside collections agency. This allows the hospital to recoup some of the unpaid debt.
Collections agencies will then attempt to recover the money through letters, calls, and credit reporting. At this point, it becomes more difficult to negotiate or have the debt forgiven. Getting sent to collections also damages your credit score.
To avoid this outcome, try to address overdue hospital bills before they ever get sent to a collections agency by working with the hospital early on.
Strategies For Paying Off Hospital Bills
No matter when your hospital bill is due, here are some tips for tackling medical debt:
-
Make paying your hospital bills a priority in your budget
-
Use money from flexible spending accounts if available
-
See if your employer offers any medical bill assistance
-
Consider getting a personal loan for debt consolidation at lower interest
-
Use crowdfunding platforms to raise money from friends and family
-
Cut back discretionary spending temporarily to free up cash
-
Consider getting a side gig or picking up overtime at your job
Medical bills don’t have to cripple your finances if you stay organized and proactive. Now you know generally how long you have to pay hospital bills, as well as smart strategies for handling them. With focus and discipline, you can effectively manage healthcare expenses.
Make consistent payments, avoid credit cards
Large medical providers like hospitals, in particular, will often take what you give them, according to Dvorkin. Pay what you can afford on a monthly basis, and it will be applied to your balance.
“As long as you continually pay something, they usually wont turn it back,” he said. “If you owe $1,000 and you can only afford $25 a month, guess what, theyre going to take it.”
Do not use a credit card to pay off medical debt unless you plan on paying the bill in full at the end of the month, because carrying a credit card balance is costly, while unpaid medical bills dont charge interest.
“Most medical bills, even if theyre delinquent, will not charge an interest rate. So putting medical bills on credit cards is not a great idea,” Dvorkin said.
All nonprofit hospitals in the U.S. are supposed to offer financial assistance programs to help patients who cannot afford to pay for their care, according to Kelmar.
Ask your provider if you are eligible for a discounted care program, Dvorkin advised.
Eligibility criteria vary, and they can be difficult to identify, so it pays to do your research on your providers program.
They can be cumbersome to navigate and require lots of paperwork, but can save patients thousands of dollars.
Don’t pay sticker price
Consider the total amount of the bill a starting point for negotiations.
“A lot of times, medical providers prices are wacky,” Howard Dvorkin, a certified public accountant and chairman of Debt.com, told CBS MoneyWatch.
Dvorkin recalls receiving a bill for a medical incident that required his daughter to be airlifted for treatment. The initial total? $18,000.
He asked the treatment provider what rate they would have billed his insurance company and said: “Thats the rate Ill pay.”
He ended up paying about $5,000, he recalled. “Every provider has the flexibility to reduce rates,” he said.
Ask for an itemized bill to see exactly what you are being charged for. Go through it line by line to identify any errors, such as charges for services you never received.
“Make sure theres not a mistake there. Mistakes are made, people bill for the wrong thing and send bills to the wrong patients sometimes. Dont assume the bill is accurate,” Patricia Kelmar, senior director of Health Care Campaigns for U.S. PIRG EducationFund told CBS MoneyWatch.
You could also inadvertently be billed for a medical test that was ordered but that you never received, for example. “Those are the kinds of things you might be able to flag and have removed,” Kelmar added.
Its also worth asking the hospital if paying a lump sum, as opposed to paying a bill off in small chunks over time, will earn you a discount.
“Talk to the hospital and ask if theyll accept a lower amount in exchange for a lump sum settlement,” Pan of Resolve said. “If you owe $5,000, say, Ill give you $2,500 right now if we can consider this settled and paid in full.”
How Long Do You Have To Pay Hospital Bills? – CountyOffice.org
FAQ
How long until a medical bill goes to collections?
Generally, you can expect your bill to go to collections after 90 days of non-payment. Different service providers will wait between 60 and 180 days before sending your debt to a debt collector. Even after that, not every unpaid medical debt will end up on your credit report.
What is the law on unpaid medical bills in South Carolina?
There is a statute of limitations in South Carolina that says a debt collector can only sue you for a medical debt for a certain amount of time. In South Carolina, the statute of limitations for most debts is three years. Once this time period has passed, the debt is considered time-barred, providing you a defense to such lawsuits.
Can a hospital bill you 2 years later in California?
What is the law on unpaid medical bills in Florida?
This bill sets a three-year time limit for actions to collect medical debt. The time limit starts when the facility sends the medical debt to a third party to be collected. Currently, medical debt is subject to a five-year statute of limitation.
How long do you have to pay a medical bill?
Medical billing time limits vary by state and range from months to years. Regardless of receiving a late medical bill, the patient typically has 30 days to pay.
How long does it take for a medical bill to arrive?
It could take longer than you think for a medical bill to arrive in your mailbox. Many insurers require providers to bill them in a timely manner, but that could still be months. Health care providers have to wait for insurance to pay a bill before they can bill a patient for the rest of the bill.
How long does a medical bill take to be reported?
If a medical bill isn’t paid, the debt collector has to wait at least one year before telling the three main credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax). This gives you time to check the debt, dispute it, talk it down, or pay it off before it hurts your credit score.
What if I can’t pay my medical bills?
Unpaid medical bills can lead to calls from debt collectors, dings to your credit report, and potentially bankruptcy. If you can’t pay your medical debt, you can ask for an affordable payment plan, look for programs that can help you get money, or combine your debts into one payment. Some organizations offer grants to help you pay medical debt.
How long does a hospital have to pay a credit card bill?
From now until Jun. Until June 30, 2022, a hospital has to wait six months after the service date to send a late bill to a credit bureau. But lucky for us, that rule is changing. Gross says that beginning Jul. 1, 2022, that timeframe is being pushed out to 12 months.
Do medical bills end up in collections?
Most medical debt items on credit reports are under $500. But many people with medical debt owe multiple creditors. People often don’t pay their medical bills because they don’t know they owe anything or thought their insurance would cover the cost. What happens when medical bills are sent to a collections agency?.
