Negotiate your debt: If you don’t think that there are any errors in your medical bill, you may consider attempting to negotiate your medical debt or settle with the provider for a discount. While not every medical provider will be willing to settle the debt, your chances of a settlement increase as the size of your bill increases. Did you know that most hospitals collect less than 20% of what they are owed by patients? From experience, we know that many hospitals are happy to collect something rather than nothing on their larger bills. Generally, there are two types of companies who can help to settle your debt at a significant discount: | 1 | Medical Debt Settlement: The first type of company analyzes your medical bill and will attempt to negotiate with providers for you. Ideally, a good service will compare the cost of your medical bill to other medical bills with similar procedures in their database. From this comparison, they can estimate whether you paid too much. Using this information, the company can contact your provider and try to negotiate a more favorable outcome. You might also want to ask the company if they have an existing relationship with your provider as that can increase the likelihood they can get you a discount. Here are some companies you can contact for this type of service:
| | | | | 2 | General Debt Settlement: The second type of company is more broadly focused on all types of "unsecured" (non-mortgage, non-automobile) debt. If you have significant amounts of unsecured debt (i.e. credit card debt) in addition to your medical debt, you may be able to enroll with a debt settlement company. These debt settlement companies, for a fee, can advocate and manage the negotiation process for you. If you are unable to pay back your bills because of a financial hardship, like a job loss, divorce, or a death in the family, a debt settlement company may be able to save you as much as 50% on your current debt. Before contacting one of these firms, you should realize that these debt settlement services are designed to help you to avoid bankruptcy, but should not be used to repair your credit score. This type of service should be viewed as a last resort to bankruptcy and not as a way to avoid paying your debt. However, be wary of any company demanding upfront payment for their services and be sure to do some research on the company before engaging their services. Please see the list below for some potential companies that you can contact if you have financial troubles and have at least $10,000 of unsecured debt: - Freedom Debt Relief
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