r/Debt • u/Whole_Rub7706 • 4d ago
need advice with medical debt -surgery
hi everyone i really need help
I had my gallbladder removed a while back, and honestly, I didn’t realize I hadn’t paid the bill. I recently had a baby (he’s 5 months now 🥹) and in the middle of getting new bills from delivery, I realized that my surgery probably went to collections.
I’m a stay-at-home mom and my husband knew I had some debt before we got married, but I’m really stressed about this. I don’t want this debt to fall on him, and I don’t know what my options are now. I’ve moved away from where I had the surgery, so I’m not sure who to even call or where to start.
Can anyone tell me the best first steps to take? Should I call the hospital billing department or collections directly? How does this actually work if it’s already at collections
Any advice would help and mean alot , thank you!!
2
u/prassjunkit 4d ago
Call the billing office and verify the balance has been sent to collections. Ask the amount and see if they offer the ability to pay in full and have it pulled out of collections if you can afford that. If you can’t afford it it’s worth also seeing if your family qualifies for some financial assistance through the hospital since your husband is the only one who works. Verify that if you qualify for this and are approved at least part of what you owe will be adjusted off. From there you can contact the collection agency to set up a payment plan if you can’t afford to pay off the hospital in full or if they don’t provide that as an option. It’s possible they can sue you and if they win they can garnish your husbands wages.
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u/Whole_Rub7706 4d ago
thank you! we wernt married when i had the surgery so hopefully i can fix it asap
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u/Intelligent_Bus_3627 4d ago
I would call the hospital that did the surgery, ask for the bill and say you need to update your billing address as you’ve moved and don’t think you received a bill when you should’ve. If it’s not in collections, I would ask for an itemized receipt and also to set up a payment plan and even ask about their financial assistance program (important if you weren’t married at the time of the surgery-due to total household income changes) if they did send it to collections they’ll have the information of the company they sold it to so you’ll be able to get a contact number that way! When you call you can usually negotiate the bill down if you’re able to do a lump sum payment that day or set up for two payments. Hopefully they’ll be able to get you all the info you need! Don’t stress about it too much, just try to keep level headed as it does nothing good for the situation when you freak yourself out over it (I’ve been here, it will work itself out just fine)