What Do I Do with All These Medical Bills?

If you live in New York and are struggling to pay overwhelming medical bills, there are a number of options to look in to.

The Debt You Didn’t Ask For

All it takes is one accident, one illness, one wrong step, and suddenly you could be hospitalized and left owing hundreds of thousands of dollars. While health insurance will cover some of these costs, you can still be left responsible for a staggering sum of money. And these debts can come from multiple places:

• doctor bills
• hospital bills
• emergency care bills
• nursing home bills
• home health aide bills

And of course, if you’re that sick or injured, you are unable to work, which just compounds the problem.

It seems hopeless, but there are ways to fight back and take control of your medical debt.

What Parts of Medical Debt Can You Fight?

Many medical bills are filled with inaccuracies, unclear charges, and a mix of information from multiple sources. There are a number of issues that a good debt attorney can review and possibly litigate:

• Whether a contract was correctly formed – are you sure that the paperwork you signed is legally binding and was done correctly?
• Competency – Did you come out of the hospital in worse shape than when you when in? If you suspect that something went wrong during your stay, but don’t feel like you can prove actual malpractice, you may be able to negotiate a Mutual Release by Both Parties. This is where your medical provider may forgive the fees/costs in return for a release from any future malpractice claim.
• Liability – Which part of your bills are you really liable for? What should your insurance be paying? What shouldn’t the hospital be billing you for?
• Informed consent – If you’re unconscious, and someone else makes a medical decision for you, should you be legally obligated to pay for a decision you didn’t make?
• Duress – If you came into the emergency room horribly injured or miserably sick, were you under duress when you signed your intake paperwork?
• Value of services – Were you billed $500 for a single aspirin? Do the costs for various items and services seem outrageous and out of step with other facilities?

In the end, if you feel that there are unexplained and unnecessary charges in your medical bills, the right debt lawyer can help you fight back.

Negotiating Your Medical Debt Down

Even if the hospital can prove every charge on your bill was accurate and necessary, there are still a number of ways you and your lawyer can negotiate the amount you owe down to a manageable level.

• Lump sum settlements – you may be able to pay a smaller amount all at once, allowing the hospital to get their money quicker
• Installment payment plans – you pay what you owe, but you are able to spread it over an agreed amount of time.
• Hybrid settlements – a combination of lump sum and installment. Pay a larger amount up front, then smaller payments over time.
• Creative settlements – this is where having the right debt lawyer makes all the difference. Your lawyer should be able to work with you and the hospital to negotiate the total owned down to an acceptable level on both sides, as well as creating a payment plan that satisfies all parties.

If your medical debt is overdue, and your provider has sent your debt to collections, your debt attorney should be able to work with the collection agency as well.

Other Options

If you’ve explored both litigation and negotiation and are still in trouble, here are some final options to review.

• Charitable and Government Programs – If your bills were from fighting an illness, there are a number of medical charities and non-profit organizations that may be able to help. Otherwise, you may want to check out New York State’s Department of Health’s website for financial aid information – https://profiles.health.ny.gov/hospital/pages/billing
• Bankruptcy – Like most consumer debt, medical debt is completely discharged through Chapter 7 bankruptcy. If medical bills are your only debt however, you may not qualify. In this case, you and your debt attorney can look into the prospect of Chapters 11 or 13 bankruptcy. With this option, you will still have to part back part of the medical debt, but you can do so over time.

The Next Step

Overwhelming medical bills only add to the trauma of illness or injury. You shouldn’t have to fight this fight on your own. You can find further information here – https://www.ny-bankruptcy.com/medical-debt/

If you’d like to talk directly to a compassionate, knowledgeable, human being, reach out to New York debt attorney Ronald Weiss for a free consultation. He can review what you want to do, and help you get the process started. Call 631-271-3737 and take the first step to a fresh start.