Jon-Marc said:
I'm not at all surprised since no one cares about those who are really in need of help who are trying desperately and fruitlessly to meet their financial obligations. I have about 16 medical bills as my health is fast deteriorating, and I'm spending way too much time with doctors and in hospitals.
Yet no one cares, and those bills are one by one being turned into collection because I'm not able to send everyone the full amount that I owe them. They don't want a monthly payment; they want it all at once.
The latest one is nearly $2,700, and that's AFTER my health insurance paid their 90%. I have several that are over $2,000. At the $10 per month that I'm able to send each of them, I will be paying them for the rest of my life, which at the rate I'm going might not be very many more years--I hope.
I can understand why some people commit suicide--especially if they don't have the Lord to trust in and just go into despair and lose all hope. My hope is in Jesus Christ. As the saying goes, they can't get blood out of a turnip. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
Jon-Marc
God Bless you. I believe that if you look at the majority of Credit Card debt in America the culprit would be the medical debt.
I got laid-off and fortunately found a job fairly quickly. I had to go 90 days without insurance. I wasn’t aware of the “pre-existing condition clause” and once I got insurance, my wife or I wasn’t covered for a year for any pre-existing medical condition. My wife’s prescriptions were over 500 dollars a month I had to pay out of my pocket. Long story short, I developed Credit Card debt that no honest man could pay; now I’ve settled one and am fighting the other two.
Last year I sprained my ankle. A trip to the ER, which resulted in 4 different bills, Dr. Bills and an MRI later and I’m again staring at almost 2,000 dollars in medical bills AFTER my insurance has paid! My MRI bill was 1,000 dollars, I offered to settle with them for 600 dollars…they refused it, so now they get 25 dollars a month, but they charge me a monthly 16 dollar finance fee. So, I charge them a 16 dollar service fee for having to write a check and mail it and I send them my new balance monthly…
We were told from a chief hospital financial guy after the birth of our last child that people are “expected” to negotiate their medical bills and that basically, the medical field charges people with insurance more, b/c they know they have insurance and thus has a job and can pay more to make-up their loss from people with no health insurance.
My advice, take care of your family first. Let the debt go into collections if their not willing to settle. Use the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) to your advantage and when the debt is 90 days old they’ll turn it over to collections and when they threaten you (which they will), sue ‘em…that’s a 1,000 dollars per violation. Or, once the debt is in collections for around 90 to 180 days they’ll sell the debt in a portfolio of debt to debt buyers for pennies on the dollar.
You’ll get hounded again, study the FDCPA, make the junk debt buyers prove you owe “them” anything by Validation. Where’s the contract that shows you owe them any money. If I owe you 1,000 dollars and john doe calls me wanting me to pay him your 1,000 dollars, what fool would pay?
About a year later, you Credit Report will be hurt, but never fear, simply dispute the account. The CRA’s have 30 days to fix the report or delete the account, 95% of the time the account is deleted, b/c it can’t be validated.
If by some remote chance you are sued, follow these steps.
-First send a Validation request…that’ll buy you 30 days.
-Second file a SWORN DENIAL…a statement that needs to be in writing, notarized and filed with the county clerk and a copy sent to the collection lawyer. This is a powerful tool that eliminates the sworn affidavit of account. Have the statement be a graduated denial. In other words, state that you deny the debt and if it’s your debt, you deny it’s a valid debt and if it’s a valid debt, you deny the amount owed is correct. When you file a SWORN DENIAL the debt collection lawyer cannot rely upon a sworn affidavit of account, but must instead produce a “live” witness to testify about the debt. The likelihood of this going any further is slim.
-Third, and if needed go for the jugular and file a DISCOVERY, this is a written request for the lawyer to produce the production of documents…for example the original contract or agreement…if the debt has been “sold” forget about any original agreement being produced.
-Finally show-up for you court date (if it goes this far, I doubt it will) and have the judge throw the suit out.
People don’t realize these steps and simply don’t try to defeat these legalized plunderers and a judgment is granted against you and your hosed.
You’re not a “bad” person. The system is taking advantage of you, b/c you have insurance and a job. They’ve been paid by your insurance and you’ve paid your co-pay…that’s good enough. It’s a racket, fight it. There’s an arsenal of weapons for you to use, get to know them and use them to your advantage.
PM me if you have any questions…It works…I’m an example, I’ve silenced these thieves and corrected my credit report, but it takes time, dedication and knowledge.
In XC
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