Collections PSA: Collections is regulated under FDCPA/FCRA. If you as a reader are in a similar situation, please review the the below resources. Do not tolerate misreporting of information to CRAs (credit reporting agencies) by creditors, nor pursuit by collections firms. Do not communicate with phone calls or use apps to dispute. Do use certified mail return receipt for correspondence while building your paper trail. Do demand validation of an alleged debt in a timely fashion. Do file a CFPB complaint and/or consult with an attorney to sue a debt collector when warranted.
"Do demand validation of an alleged debt in a timely fashion"
I did this to a debt collection agency and they became enraged, presumably trying to scare me into allowing them to cut corners. Sure enough I never did get the validation and the collection vanished from my credit report.
There should be a startup or something that you can call to get this taken care of. I bet there are a lot of people with plenty of money and no desire to deal with this stuff.
The people who have these problems rarely have money, in my experience. Have done almost all the work pro bono (which I’m fine with, it just doesn’t scale). These are systemic issues that need addressing. Medical collections should not be a thing. Federal and state law should fiercely protect against abusive creditors and lazy credit reporting agencies.
I'm actually thinking of starting a company to tackle this very issue. You can save ALMOST any patient money, just by getting their information, income levels, debt and sending a letter to the hospital/company. If this fails, lawyer on staff would need to write up a letter.
Medical payments in the US are a joke and laughable. I have a chronic illness, so I gained some experience dealing with those snakes.
Ex 1. I was charged 20k for pre-authorized procedure. After procedure insurance could not agree with the company on the payment, as average payment for such procedure is $1800(according to insurance) and insurance refused to pay. I stressed over it but didn't pay it, I was young and didnt have 20k laying around. I told the company to get lost and invited them to send my account to collections and that I will fight them in court if I had to. 7 years later I received a bill after they agreed with insurance on discounted rate for $300, at that point they started calling me again. It was too late and they could not put it on my credit report, therefore, again I explained that I will not pay as this barely covers time lost dealing with it. Bills stopped coming and they accepted defeat.
Ex.2 Mother was in ER, 40 minutes for abdomen pain. 0 tests, doctor pressed her stomach and gave her high strength Tylenol. Bill total $3500, just absurd IMO.
Parents are lower middle class, I sent a letter with their income, debt and some nice words. Took me about 2 hours tops to come up with it and find where to drop it off. Bill instantly reduced to $350.
Healthcare prices in the US cannot be taken seriously. It is so anti-patient it is unbelievable. Go to ER and get 10 different bills. There is definitely room for a company to come in and represent patients and easily save money.
Plus, patients are OFTEN billed for stuff they didn't not get. The abuse in the industry is insane. You can get double billed, there is also upcoding and unbundling, which results in higher bills.
I don't know if Universal Healthcare is possible in the US. Many people falsely believe US healthcare is the best and facts don't matter. Just look at the current state of US politics.
https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/collections
https://www.kalzumeus.com/2017/09/09/identity-theft-credit-r... (excellent resource by patio11 on how to present to CRAs and build a paper trail, although more focused on responding to identify theft)
https://web.archive.org/web/20190604005100/https://www.balla... (Sample letters to respond to debt collectors)
Disclaimer: Not an attorney, not your attorney.