what if i have not payed thousands of dollars of medical bills over the last 5 years?

Only if you have parasitic worms! Or yellow snot, but green is exempt.

I get bills from the hospital every month.. For about the same amount. I never paid them. Your credit is now shit, but you should be OK. I have about 4000 in unpaid bills to the ER/Urgent Care and they have never called me. And this is over the last ten years.

I should answer this question. From my experience in Oregon you don’t have to pay but your credit is fucked like a busted hymen.

Not paying ur medical bills will affect your credit report. You will be contacted by collection agencies n they could however put liens on ur personal properties ie car, home n ect. You cant claim bankrupty on medical bills either.

see if the hospital will write off as “charity” or file for bankruptcy.

welcome to America! A good example why we need universal good quality health care, its a right, not a choice reserved for those who can, and even then, most health insurance coverage is bad. Check out “Sicko”, the movie. good luck!

ps: I am very well informed on this subject, having worked as an MD both in France and in the USA.

For the future, you should know this: you can call the hospital billing department and negotiate your bill and a payment plan so that you can pay lower costs in small installments.

then youre fucked

Why aren’t you paying? You could send as little as 5 bucks a month. Part of the reason why hospital charge so much is to compensate for dead beat patients. I have insurance, but it’s a really crappy plan with very high deductibles. I pay a little each month, and it keeps the wolf away from the door. As long as you pay something, they can’t really do anything to you.

No, they do not charge so high because of deadbeat patients. That is a farce.

Healthcare costs are exorbitantly high because the healthcare industry is just that – an industry. A ride in an ambulance should not set you back for a significant proportion of your income.

You are correct, Healthcare is an industry. I am a medical biller/coder. Even if a person has insurance, Pysicians only recieve a portion of what they charge. For example: I had knee surgery in January. the surgeon charged $3400.00 for the procedure. The insurance company only allowed $750.00, and they applied that to my deductible, which means I have to foot the entire bill of what they allow. If I had no insurance, I would have to pay the entire $3400.00. I agree that prices are extremely high, but you would cringe if you saw what hospitlals and doctors actually recieve compared to their costs. I said that only a PART of the reason they charge so much is because of deadbeat patients. Just because someone thinks the price is too high, it doesn’t mean they should pay nothing. I have worked with slow paying patients to help them pay what they owe. I had one that took a full 3 years to pay off a bill for only $200.00. But he paid it all, a little at a time, and his credit record stayed clean, at least as far as our bill is concerned. I wish we had free medical here, but unfortunately we don’t.

Forgive me for being harsh, but I can’t wait until your industry is hung at the gallows. It’s criminal.

Healthcare is a human right, not a privilege.

I don’t think you were being harsh at all. I agree with you completely. I think it sucks that the costs are so high and so many people have to go without medical care just because of money. I wish everyone could get medical care on a basis of need, not $$$. I was a SAHM for a number of years, and had no insurance at all, so I couldn’t even see a doctor for a simple cold. I was so happy to finally be back to work and get insurance. Boy was my bubble busted fast!! Healthcare in this country sucks !!

I heart you :)

Aww, shucks!! thank you!!