this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2023
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I think settling for a fraction of the price is rarer than it seems, and even a tiny fraction of cancer bills would be extremely difficult for most. This is good advice if you need your credit though. I hear it’s easiest to negotiate with the hospital itself but with American healthcare you might well get one that simply does not care.
Your suggestion also works for people who already have the medical debt though. At that point it doesn’t hurt to try to negotiate. They should avoid making any payments until completely ready to pay it off though (and having made a deal), wouldn’t wanna restart the clock and whatnot.
In the other commenter’s case I would probably just ignore it until it went away. I never need credit though so it’s not realistic for everyone. Medical debt is such a fucking terrible thing honestly. Hopefully they succeed in removing it from credit entirely
Yup, try your luck with the provider, and consider the collection company as a backup plan. Usually you can get a pretty good deal from one of them, but you need to be ready to pay in cash.
But yeah, if you can handle waiting 7 years, letting it fall off is the cheapest, but you'll have crappy credit and are open to lawsuits until that time.
Man medical debt lawsuits are among the worst things in this country. Pure maliciousness. I imagine it’ll be one of the most reviled “past things” in the future.