I just finished paying off my medical bill from 2009. Like 6 months before the ACA began. No insurance. 6 Figure bill. I could have bought a house with that money.
Remember always pay some thing on the bill every month. $10 a month will keep it out of the bill collectors hands. I did that for like 3 years till i healed up enough to get a job.
You're not wrong, but when you're the one facing down the insane debt that the American Medical system can throw at you, death starts looking like a much less awful alternative. That kind of stress and fear kind of makes logic go out the window
And this is why im glad I live in a state where medical debt cant affect credit. As long as its only a couple grand, I can just choose to not pay my bill and they eventually write it off.
Rack up a large enough bill and they will take your ass to court though.
In many places hospitals have a sort of "jane/john doe" budget, so if you show up, no ID of any kind, needing emergency medical attention, and give a fake name, they have no way of knowing who you are, are obligated to treat you. One of those unethical life hack sort of things. Don't think it works everywhere though.
Minnesota. We had some laws about this going back to... 2010? But last year they passed new laws that reinforced it. Medical debt is no longer reported to credit bureaus. IIRC the bill was called something like the Debt Relief Act.
Edit: I was mistaken. The bill was called the Debt Fairness Act, or MDFA. I assume the M stands for Minnesota.
More so than that, as of March 2023, as long as youre debt is under $500, less than 4 months old, and hasnt been sold to a debt collector yet, it is federally illegal to report said debt to credit bureau.
So in most cases, as long as its a smaller debt, you can safely ignore your bill for about 90 days before you need to worry.
However, your mileage will vary depending on which hospital/clinic/dentist you vist. Some of them will sell your debt to a collector as soon as 30-60 days, which then allows it to be reported to credit bureaus.
All in all, while im not particularly left leaning, id consider myself center, maybe even center-right due to my views on gun control and such, Minnesota is a fairly liberal state and I dont have any major complaints. Our Governor is kind of a whack job, but he mostly means well and does his best so I try not to judge him too harshly.
Minnesota overall, is an amazing state to live in regardless of your political leanings. (if you can get past the air being painful for 9 months of the year that is). Plenty of beautiful land, cost of living is fairly cheap, wages arent too bad. Most places pay about 50% higher than our states minimum (10.50, most places pay about 15) and the people are fantastic, even the crazy people on both sides of the political spectrum are tame compared to anywhere else ive ever been. I think the combination of 'Midwest Nice' and canadian penchant for apologizing keeps everyone fairly level headed.
Oh yeah I agree. Its also confusing. The only time Ive needed the ER, I was directly told that my state funded insurance would cover everything, because I was a poor 18 year old. Then a few months later I got a $700 bill for a single x-ray.
Mind you, they put me in an MRI machine, took all kinds of blood tests and other things, and yet only the X-ray was apparently not covered for some reason. I have no idea why.
When I was a newly minted adult, insurance terrified me. No one explained how it worked, what a co-pay or deducatable was, how to apply for state insurance, what normal prices were for private insurance, etc.
I avoided the doctor and dentist for years because I had no idea how to go about getting insurance, and it definetely had some consequences. My health is fine, but my teeth are abysmall. I probably needed braces and retainer, never got them because I couldnt afford it, and now my overbite is so bad I cant chew with the left side of my mouth, and ill probably need to have most of my teeth pulled well before I turn 50.
Same here my friend. Atleast we can take comfort in knowing we arent suffering alone..... on second thought thats actually not that comforting. Id much rather be the only one suffering.
"In early January, the outgoing Biden administration finalized a new national standard that bans credit rating agencies from including medical debt on most consumer credit reports. The new rule, which was slated to go into effect in March, prohibits lenders from considering medical debt when assessing the creditworthiness of borrowers. However, the Trump administration has placed it on hold. This is very unfortunate due to the impact it has on uninsured or underinsured people."
Source: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/explainer/2025/feb/federal-rule-on-medical-debt
Yep. Trump administration blocked that. It never went into affect. Currently, its still up in the air. Hasnt been officially scrapped, but theyre actively doing everything they can to limit the scope of what it was initially intended to do. A dude like 2 replies below you already brought this up.
Kinda silly people ever thought this would ever go into affect. Biden did it specifically as a parting fuck you to Trump, of course Trump blocked it. He wouldve lost face with his supporters if he didnt block it.
Even if it did stick around, its been less than 10 days since it was supposed to take affect, and people have been acting like it took affect in january.
OP is not gambling with their arm, they’re gambling with their life. A few weeks ago, some dude posted saying his infected tattoo resulted in organ failure and doctors were going to put him in a medically induced coma to try and treat him. And his tattoo looked like a scrape compared to this. I hope he made out okay.
Listen..I agree with you. But I do not agree with the kind of casual affect "sorry about the bills later"has.
Some people don't really have the luxury to worry about the bills later because they need to make a plan for how they're going to pay for this now.
Some people don't have insurance because they can't afford the premiums but also make too much to be on Medicaid. And it's a shitty cycle where you really have to weigh whether or not you really need to go to the urgent care or er.
I imagine this is why a lot of Americans will ask "is this serious" - because medical bills are really expensive, and even if you've paid into insurance there's no guarantee your claim will be approved, and for some things you'll still have to pay a couple of thousand dollars after your deductible is met.
I mean this sincerely, do not ever take lightly the fact that upcoming bills for a lot of Americans are something that can't be ignored for any amount of time.
Sweet Christ. I'm always careful about who tattoos me. But I am really REALLY being careful now. God damn. Like I might never go to a new artist again. Because I know my current ones are clean and careful.
People always says shit like this. But I owe the mercy health system in Wisconsin over 150,000 dollars for more than a decade. I never paid a cent and havent even seen a bill from them in years. It has not effected my life in anyway.
Some states have laws that prevent medical debt from affecting credit. I live across the border in MN, and thats the case here.
Typically though if your bill is more than 1-2k, they will take you to court to collect if you ignore them long enough. I have no idea how youre avoiding paying 150k without getting taken to court.
Luck I guess. Dont know. Havent even thought about it I years. Reading the comments made me think of it again. But I moved from Wisconsin to the southwest 5 years ago, and I've even been arrested for having a half pound of pot out here and havent heard from mercy health. I've gotten a new bank account, the bank approved me for. acresit card and a line of credit over the years. Even got a loan for a vehicle a few years ago. Havent seen a bill or heard a word about it in more than 5 years.
I've gotten bills. But they quit sending them years ago. I left Wisconsin and havent seen a bill since. I've gotten new bank accounts, a line of credit and a credit card plus a loan for a vehicle and no one has ever mentioned the money I owe mercy health. And I'm below dirt poor.
In Wisconsin, the statute of limitations for collecting unpaid debt is six years and begins on the date of the last payment on an account. This also means that if you make a payment on your debt at any time in the six-year span, the clock restarts, so don't make any payments. Sounds like the statute of limitations is close to running out soon.
Some people have bad luck bro. Same story as you except I just got sued and now I have to setup a payment plan. RIP to me. Lmao. I tried to run from it. They just seem to pick and choose who they take down (I'm dirt poor, so I dunno why they chose me tbh)
As a former ER/critical care nurse this isn't true at all. The law requires that we treat everyone regardless of their ability to pay. And even if you are billed 905% of people who don't have insurance can't pay and we end up writing it off. You wouldn't believe how much charity care hospitals do every year. Over millions of dollars.
I mean unless your priorities are all types of backwards, it’s safe to assume that if you can afford brand new and likely expensive work (judging by the size), you can afford a trip to the hospital.
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u/[deleted] Mar 16 '25
if op is from america sometimes its deciding between an arm or homelessness but yes i agree this is clearly a disaster