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Unlike some other forms of debt, most people do not have a choice when it comes to accruing medical debt. Some medical providers are willing to work with patients to resolve billing issues; others take more aggressive tactics like turning the bills over to collection agencies.
Payment Arrangements
Even though it may not seem like an important priority when you have other bills to pay, unpaid medical debts can ruin your credit. Doctors realize that medical insurance rarely covers 100% of the cost of many procedures. Many doctors’ offices are more than willing to work out monthly payment arrangements. They do not want the hassle of dealing with a collection agency any more than you do, so you should try to discuss making payment arrangements with them. As long as you set a reasonable amount and make your payments on time, they most likely will not send your bill to a collection agency.
Get a Personal Loan
Websites like creditloan.com offer different types of personal loans for a wide variety of purposes, including medical debt consolidation. If your credit is not high enough to apply for a personal loan, you may be able to get a peer-to-peer loan from a website like prosper.com or Lending Club. However, be aware that if you take out a personal loan, you might pay a higher interest rate on the loan than what your healthcare provider would charge.
Ask for a Settlement
If your bill has been turned over to a collection agency, you might be able to make a settlement agreement. Many collections agencies will accept a settlement amount that is significantly less than the full balance. The collection agency will also often allow you to split the settlement amount up into payments so that you do not have to come up with all the money at once. A word of caution though, the more you can pay upfront, the lower the settlement amount usually is.
Tax Credits
The Affordable Care Act contains some provisions for deducting medical expenses that you might be able to use to increase the amount of your tax refund. You can then take the money from your tax refund and use it to pay off some of your medical debts. Not all the provisions of The Affordable Care Act have gone into full effect yet, so you should speak with a reputable financial advisor to find out how much of your medical expenses you can claim.
Professional Debt Arbitrators
Many debt arbitration companies only deal with high-interest debit like credit cards, but there are some the offer medical debt consolidation services as well. These professionals will contact all the medical companies you owe money and negotiate settlement amounts. Next, the arbitrator will work with you to set up a fixed monthly payment that you can afford. After that, you simply send out one check to the arbitration company and they pay your past due bills for you.
Getting rid of medical debt can be a headache, but it is not an impossible task to handle. Consider the different approaches listed here and find the one, or combination of approaches that works best for you. It will take time, patience and persistence, but you can free yourself of medical debt.
