Question: Our family is not quite swamped with medical debt, but we are pretty well close to it. Our situation is that we have severl bills ranging from $100 to $5000. There are at least two of the $5000 ones and several in the middle. I would say that we have at least $8,000 or so of the debt in question. I can’t keep up with the nickel and dime payments I have to make along with all my other required bills, i.e. mortgage, medical insurance, electric, and etc. Does anyone else seem to be stuck in the same situation as me? I looked into debt consolidation, but it seems that all those are for credit cards and such. We have only one credit card and it has only a $4000 balance. The credit card is not my main concern! I need some guidance on whether I should just take out a personal loan and just pay these like that or what?
Any advice? Thanks!
Answer: the hospital (only one in the immediate area) has a plan that will pay all or some of outstanding bills if you qualify. Have to fill out a big application – and reveal a lot of your financial status – but they have picked up a lot for me. Wouldn’t hurt to ask. First, as far as the medical bills go, call the doctor or hospital or whoever the bills are from. Ask them if you can set up a payment plan with them. Years ago when I had a hospital bill that wasn’t covered by insurance, I called the hospital and they told me that as long as I made a payment every month, I would be okay…they just wanted to see that I was paying something. Your particular doctor/hospital might not have this same attitude, but it is definitely worth asking.
Also ask them if they can give you some % off (specifically, can you pay a lower negoitated rate that they typically offer to insurance companies).
If that helps, pay the minimum on those bills that you can and try to eliminate as much of the credit card debt as possible ASAP, since that most certainly will be at a higher % interest rate.
Next, if you are in any way physically able GET A SECOND JOB. Even if it is a minimum wage job that pays only $5. per hour and you can only work 15 or 20 hours per week (at night, on the weekend, on holidays etc) that would be a couple hundred bucks a month that you can use to reduce your debt load.
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