Letter from lawyer

calamtykel

Long story short - 2 surgeries last summer - two port surgeries last fall and winter - chemo and another surgery in january to remove a suspicious lymph node in my neck.  It was same day surgery.

Insurance is an 80/20 plan but it has a $2500.

 I thought DH was handling our bills by paying a little each month - I know he is. I  negotiated with the one hospital at $100 a month.  Now todya we got a letter from the other hospital from January, from a lawyer representing them that we owe $2038 in 30 days.  

I can't spread it any more thin - between raising four kids and daily expenses and paying off all the other medical bills.  ;(  I don't know what to do.  Should I contact the hospital at this point? 
I am not eligible for any financial assistance since we have a house and you must have less than $7500 in assets to be eligible.

This just stinks - why can the hospital not just accept what we can pay.....it's so hard when you owe so many doctors and facilities all at once!  

3katz

Yes . . . contact the hospitals. See if you can lower your monthly payments to the first one and work out a payment plan with the other. Hopefully that's all you'll need to do. If you pay a little each month, you are making a "good faith" effort. I don't know the legalities, this is just from my experience.

This really sucks. I'll add a line I wrote in another post: "How do they expect us to come up with the $$?" Good luck to you and I hope you can work something out.

Chickadee

Absolutely contact the hospital billing department.  You didn't say that you negotiated with the second hospital, that's what you need to do now for sure.  Rest assured this is not an unusual situation for you or for the hospital.

suebak

I have a friend who has been out of work due to lung cancer.  The medical bills continue to come in.  He said he calls each facility as he gets a bill and tells them he can send everyone $5 a month.  So far this has been working

suzanneinphoenix

I agree....call the hospital.  Sometimes they will even renegotiate the fees.  Just explain the situation.....

I wish you all the best.

Suzanne

calamtykel

thanks all - I don't think I've negotiated with this hospital - I really can't recall - I lost my dad in February and it's been a horrible year.  DH took over all this, in an effort to shield me from it, but I guess he hasn't been able to keep up either -- but we are paying another hospital $100 a month.  Honestly, at this point I don't think I can cough up another $100 a month for this one, and we've put it off as my husband's hr dept has been checking to see if the bill is correct - since the way our insurance rolled over to another company was messed up--it's complicated - just talked to DH and he's following up on his end w/ his hr dept, but he said that most likely we probably do owe it, or nearly all of it.  When I called the other hospital to negotiate, they said the lowest I could pay to keep it out of collections was $100 a month and if we missed a month, it would go to collections immediately.  In this day and age that old bit about "pay $10 a month and they can't send it to a lawyer" isn't correct -- hospitals are too hard pressed.   

It's just so difficult - three different hospitals and countless doctors, radiologists, anesthesiologists and labs ALL want their cut within 30 days........

kk11

I work for a hospital and agree you should definitely discuss it with a financial counselor at the hospital because a lot of things can be done. They don't need to know what your deal is with the other hospital. It's irrelevant to them and if you're not able to make the same deal and fork over another $100 a month, then it could actually hurt you to tell them what your plan is with the other hospital. Ask about any discounts they can give you if you pay a larger sum up front (if you can do it) and what payment plans they have. In this day and age, it's not unusual for them to have patients with huge bills (much bigger than what you even owe) and they'd rather get something than nothing at all. Plus when they send you to collections, they don't get the full amount they want (collections agency takes a good chunk), so they do have incentive to work with you.  

As far as all of the other medical professionals who want to get paid, if you can pay off some smaller bills (like copays) first, it will reduce the # of people you owe. Alternatively, you may possibly be able to delay paying your smaller bills because they could be less likely to send you to collections.

Wishing you much luck. Cancer itself is devastating without the financial burden it places on so many people.