Are You Unable To Pay Your Medical Debts?

When you can’t pay your medical debts, it can feel like there’s no hope for getting debt-free. The options for overcoming this situation will primarily depend on what company has a legal claim to your medical debt.

If the medical debt is a simple payment plan that you established directly with a medical provider or hospital, there are different approaches to take than if a collection agency holds the medical debt. In this article, we will go over these nuances so you can figure out the right approach for your scenario.

Medical Debt With Hospitals And Medical Specialists 

The reality is, hospitals, doctor’s offices, and medical specialists much prefer collecting the most they can for the services they provided you than selling your medical account to debt collectors for pennies on the dollar.

When the debt has been transferred to a collection agency, credit effects become more of a factor, and your approach will need to change accordingly. Even if your medical debt has been transferred to a collection agency, it’s still best to make an attempt to work out a repayment plan with the original medical service provider first.

Medical Debt Collectors 

It’s far better from a credit standpoint as well as a financial standpoint to deal with the original medical creditor instead of collection agencies. This isn’t always an option, however. If a medical debt collector solidly holds your debt, your first step is requesting written validation of the medical debt from the medical debt collection agency.

Although many options exist for dealing with medical debt, the process can be daunting, especially when professional debt collectors are involved.

The good news is, if you can’t figure a way out of your financial situation with medical debt, there are a variety of options for medical debt relief that can work for whatever your circumstances are. Let’s cover some of the pitfalls of medical debt to watch out for, along with some ways you can get help with medical debt consolidation.

What Are My Options For Medical Debt Relief?

Perhaps you thought your insurance would cover your medical procedure, but they are claiming they won’t. Or maybe you had to establish a payment plan for an emergency medical procedure that you’re having trouble keeping timely payments on.

Whatever the scenario, medical debt is stressful and can cause financial hardship. What’s worse, the money trouble is for something you didn’t even want to begin with! Making matters worse, errors in billing might have caused your medical debts, making it confusing to know whether or not you should pay the debt.

If your medical debts have you feeling like all financial hope is lost, the good news is, there are plenty of debt relief methods for medical debt and collections. Let’s unpack what ways you can cut these medical bills considerably to become debt-free as quickly as possible.

Bankruptcy For Medical Debts

When your income has fallen significantly and you’re unable to pay for your essentials, let alone medical bills, Chapter 7 bankruptcy might be an option for debt relief. With Chapter 7, all of your medical debts will be wiped clean, along with any other qualifying debts. However, income is a factor in qualification, so not everyone is eligible for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Another significant downside to Chapter 7 is that you could be required to sell certain assets like a car to help repay your creditors.

If your income disqualifies you for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, but you have little hope of recovering from your current financial situation, you could possibly still qualify for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. In Chapter 13, the court sets a payment plan up to pay off your debts over time, typically five years. The court will consider all of your debt obligations, income, and assets to determine the payment amount to alleviate your financial burden. Chapter 13 repayment plans are limited to only 15% of your disposable income.

The most prominent negative factor of using bankruptcy for getting rid of medical debts is the severe and long-lasting negative impact on your credit. Chapter 7 Bankruptcy can stay on your credit for at least ten years, making it harder to get home loans and other types of credit. Chapter 13 bankruptcy isn’t quite as bad but still remains on credit reports for five years. And, with Chapter 13, you’ll still have to pay a portion of the medical debt back.

Keep in mind that filing for bankruptcy isn’t the first option to pursue when getting debt relief from medical debts. One alternative is debt settlement, which can cause significantly less harm to your credit than bankruptcy. Let’s examine debt settlement more next.

Debt Settlement For Medical Collections

Fortunately, you aren’t limited to bankruptcy as the only option for restructuring your medical debt. Debt settlement is one alternative to bankruptcy that won’t hurt your credit nearly as much as bankruptcy can.

With debt settlement help from Alleviate Financial, it may be possible to massively reduce your medical collections debt balances. Our expert team of medical debt specialists will negotiate with your medical creditors for you to obtain the lowest dollar amount settlement possible.

Medical Debt Consolidation

When there are multiple medical collection accounts you owe money on, and sometimes you can save significantly by consolidating your debts into a single account with one payment every month that’s manageable for your finances.

A key benefit of debt consolidation for medical debt is getting a simple interest rate and one predictable monthly payment that makes more of an impact each time you pay. With debt consolidation from Alleviate Financial, you could pay off your medical debt far sooner than trying to deal directly with medical debt collection agencies.

 

Help With Debt Relief From Medical Bills

Alleviate Financial’s medical debt relief programs can help you resolve your medical debt stress by negotiating to pay the debt down in a lump sum or payment plan for far less. Our expert negotiation team can put a stop to harassing medical debt collections activity. We will work tirelessly to get you the best possible medical debt relief to start improving your financial future. Contact Alleviate Financial today to discover what medical debt relief you can qualify for.