lilyrosemary

Hi, my daughter was suicidal and drinking heavily last month. i encouraged her to go to the hospital. she is many states away from me. she checked in and detoxed and because of the suicidal thoughts she was forced to stay one week. i am very thankful she did but now she has a $20,000 hospital bill and no insurance. she is employed full time, and probably makes $24,00 a year. any suggestions i can pass along to her for this burden? PS she is doing very well on staying sober and also with her depression. a thousand thanks! God bless you all!

laurie6781

Tell your daughter to contact the 'indigent' office at the hospital. Not that she is indigent but they will probably know who she can work with to 1) decrease the amount and 2) make payment arrangements.

Most hospitals are not the 'ogres' they are made out to be and as I have found they are more than 'willing' to work with patients and will in many cases write off portions of the bill.

That is her best 1st step. I send congrats to her on her recovery and will send some healing thoughts and prayers for you and her that this continues.

Love and hugs,

MycoolFitz

It is possible I got my 70,ooo bill down to 3 000

Justfor1

I have dozens of detox hospital trips. I simply don't open my mail anymore & will be filing bankruptcy. There are charity funds that most hospitals have but you really have to ask & seek info on. Sadly, I needed to go to every detox because I would have seizures when I stopped drinking. It really can be a life or death thing.

sugarbear1

$5 a month will keep medical bills from going to default

Justfor1

That was not true in my case. They set up the payment arrangements & $5 a month is never going to pay for a $20,000 bill. Ask for indigent assistance. I use to do it all the time. There are lot of forms to fill out though. If your daughter stays sober then the $20,000 was worth every penny.

ru12

Have her contact a bankruptcy lawyer. And also talk to the hospital. If they know that she is considering bankruptcy, they may have a bit more motivation to find a solution that doesn't involve the courts.

Cottonwoodchris

I have done "charity care" twice now with hospitals. $6,000 once, $7,000 second (I don't intend another time) Just call the billing center, they will send you all the info and paperwork. Copy that, and you may be able to write off the ambulance bill as well.

You really need to call the hospital before the payment due date on the invoice they have sent. That is a must do!

zjw

I've read you can offer a lump sum to settle it. But that takes money. The 5 dollar a month method didnt work for me as the bills I have are spread out accross 10 diff bills and i dont have 50 a month to send accross the 10. I gave up let em go to collections. I have insurance it just doesnt cover it all.

my credit will be shot if its not already but i no longer care credits done nothing but get me into debt and trouble. sick of htat struggle to get out of debt etc.. I'll do my best to save and pay cash from now on its how it should be anyhow. And having SHOT credit will keep me from getting into any more trouble since clearly i lack the self discipline to do it on my own.

omegasupreme

I have a similar method that keeps creditors at bay. I let them know up front about my alcoholism and recovery. Most want payments far more than I can fathom right now. I offer say $25 as a good faith payment. Pay more when I can, less when I can't. Sometimes they get the payments every other month alternating creditors each month to keep something coming and any further penalties and interest from being assessed.

It's the best I can offer right now. Child support is current, as is car insurance. Those two are non-negotiable obviously. I have whittled $20k down to $8k over the past three years with this approach.

Someone from the state once suggested I apply for government funded insurance and then attempt retro-insurance coverage/claims. I tried and my income was over the amount to receive any benefits so I have no experience as to whether or not that works. Just tossing it out since it was passed on to me early on.