I recently went to the ER for pain in my abdomen and now i have recieved over 7,000 in medical bills plus the ambulance fee. I live in Illinois and supposedly no one is turned down for medical insurance but i was. I'm a part-time employee so i can't recieve insurance through my job. A friend of mine said she have hospital bills for a broken ankle she called the hospital and they sent her some papers to fill out and now she owes nothing. Can this be true? If so how can i go about it?
2007-07-30 15:31:27 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Business & Finance ➔ Insurance
Call the hospital's billing department as soon as you can and explain your predicament. There's charites set up at the hospital for cases like this, or they can greatly reduce your charges and set you up for a payment plan. By doing this sooner rather than later, you'll avoid being sent to a collection agency - which is something hospitals are fairly quick to do. Even if you have to send them $20 a month forever, it won't flush your credit rating down the toilet.
2007-07-31 01:59:49 · answer #1 · answered by zippythejessi 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A lot of times on the back of your bill on front in small print they have a number or application on back of bill that states if you can't afford to pay this bill....fill out the form or call because there are alot of charities who pay those bills for low-income or people with no insurance and speak to a social worker at the hospital.
2007-07-30 17:04:33 · answer #2 · answered by mphsgurl79 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Very simple. Speak with the billing department of the hospital to work out a payment plan. You can pay a fraction of the bill every week or even every month until its paid off.
2007-07-30 15:35:41 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That happened to me awhile ago and the hospital never sent me any paperwork and said I owed nothing...
Eventually what happened with mine was I called the hospital and asked to be put on a payment plan. You can arrange it with them where you will pay anywhere from $20.00 - $100.00 or more a month. You decide the amount, and as long as you are on time with your payments they will not send you to collections.
Goodluck!
2007-07-30 15:35:09 · answer #4 · answered by Gina 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Contact the hospital and explain your situation. In many cases they will help find any assistance you might be eligible for , and then they may write off parts of the bill. You should expect to pay at least part of it .
2007-07-30 15:41:04 · answer #5 · answered by mark 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would make sure that you are in the same situation as your friend. Anything that already has been treated insurance will not cover. You can still talk to the hospital and ask for aid. They are usually very lienient and can set something up for you. AND, not everyone qualifies for public aid, which might have been in your friends case.
2007-07-30 15:35:34 · answer #6 · answered by AmZ 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sometimes, if you call the hospital's billing department and explain your situation, they will work something out with you. They dont always disolve all the amount owed, but they will usually reduce it or work out a payment plan with you that is affordable.
2007-07-30 15:35:03 · answer #7 · answered by partygurlone 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Most states provide funding to hospitals for "Charity Care," which is a way of paying hospitals for providing services to those that can't otherwise afford them.
Contact the hospital's Business Office and ask how to get into this program.
2007-07-30 15:34:37 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
It's worth a shot. Call the hospital's accounting office to find out what you can do to make payment arrangements or get some kind of write-off.
2007-07-30 15:34:16 · answer #9 · answered by futureteacher0613 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes it is. Call the billing department and ask if they have grants for uninsured workers. They will send you a bunch of paperwork to fill out and they will either pay most or all your bill.
I owed $1,800.00 my bill was reduced to $100.00 a big blessing.
They only give you about 10 days to get the paperwork back to them so fill it out immediately and return it.
2007-07-30 15:38:13 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋