Pretty self explanatory. How do I get out of this?

Hi there. Recently my wife was hospitalized in a foreign country. We are Americans and were vacationing in Europe. Long story short we were in the hospital for about 5 days. We paid around 500 euros originally and were told we were all set. We received a bill in the mail for 4500euros recently (2 months later) . Ive been told by a friend that we can just not pay it because theres nothing the hospital can do. Is that true? I also am a bit suspicious as it had zero itemization just a total due. Not even a return envelope and the such, but im unsure how realistic that concern is, as its likely caused by a difference in healthcare culture.

I am looking for advice preferably from people who have worked within hospital systems especially in the billing department.

I have POTS and I have tried a number of medications while working with a POTS specialist and none of them have worked. The POTS doctor was reluctant to suggest a potentially beneficial treatment (VIG immunotherapy) due to the cost. In his experience regardless of the impact that POTS is having on my functioning, my insurance company (BCBS carefirst) is almost certainly not going to pay for the treatment.

Whats worse is, according to the doctor the infusions are 14,000 USD per month for a year. Now i can technically afford it but I would hugely prefer not to pay 168k in a year to not feel bad anymore. I am currently waiting for one more week for a follow up from my doctor to get a referral for the treatment itself, at which time I will take the referral to an infusion center/hospital that can perform it.

now my question is this: Is there a way to leverage my ability to pay cash for this treatment into negotiating power with the hospital/infusion centers billing department? I would imagine instead of waiting months to get compensated by insurance or receiving partial payment, they would rather receiving cash for the service or even prepayment for a number of services at a discount.

Is this possible?

TL;DR: How do I get a discount on much needed immunotherapy? only suckers pay retail

Hi guys, I have a question about a doctor's bill, I thought this was the closest sub for this

I got a bill from a doctor I saw a couple of times 3 years ago, I honestly have no idea if I paid all the bills 3 in between multiple visits. I thought I did but but I have no records anymore. I also moved out of state and haven't heard from them for around 3 years,

I'm just perplex about why I haven't heard from them until now since they're clearly able to get a hold me, is this normal? Is there anything I can do to confirm the bill is legit?

Thanks for your help in advance

I received an ambulance bill for 3k. I had taken my 2yr old to urgent care for breathing issues and she was unable to be off oxygen and had to get transported to the hospital.

However, I remember when they asked me they said “you could drive her though I’m sure you don’t want to” or take the ambulance. Given the fact that her oxygen would not stay above 85 without oxygen I felt uncomfortable driving her for 35min so I opted for the ambulance.

Now I have this bill which I will clearly need to dispute, but have no idea how to state “it was medically necessary”.

For reference, I had to take her to urgent care 2mo later and they stated “we cannot let you leave if her oxygen levels are this low” - is this the fault of the urgent care not demanding the need for the ambulance?

I hate with all of my being the situation we are always in regarding health insurance - this entire system can eat a d*ck.

Did they sue or do negative credit reporting?

I have an emergency room visit due to an prescription drugs related infections on the important part for Guys. The Insurance company pays most part of the bill and I wonder when does hospital issues the bills to me and how do I pay for it ? Is FSA acceptable to pay?

Long story short, I had a medical consultation in October 2024 and didn't pay the bill, which amounted to about $650. I recently started getting communications from a debt collector, who now wants to charge me closer to to $700, as they are charging the original bill value plus with interest. Given this, my questions are

• When would this begin to affect my credit score? For context I live in and had this consultation in California. I received first communication in July from the debt collector. While the original bill was one $650 bill, I noticed that the debt collector sent one mail with 3 separate bill claims, each with a unique case number and each less that $500 but collectively added to the original bill plus more due to interest. Would these even affect my credit score since they are each less than $500 then?
• What is the correct next step for me to take? Do I respond directly to the mail I have received to dispute the debt, or do I compose my own letter and send to the debt collector's address? If the value of the bills won't affect by credit score, do I bother responding then?

I appreciate any help in this situation, thank you!

Had to take the husband to the ER after he passed out cold on his face on a stone floor. Broken face bones and stitches :( Got the facility bill today, not overly shocked at the cost and our portion ( we have a high deductible plan) But I did 'chuckle' at the cost of the ibuprofen at .30!! So many times we hear about being charged $50 for a Tylenol (I realize they are not the same) and here is a somewhat reasonable $.30 for an ibuprofen.

Just wanted to share, made me feel a little better about the rest of the bill...

Looks like a very good organization

So basically ive got this bill and $2000. If I stretch it maybe $3000. I was hoping to be able to just reason with the hospital and just offer the 2000 and be done with the bill. Seems like that's not happening. So I was offered this payment plan. This will probably go to collections and I'd have to deal with them. I asked for an itemized list and it will hopefully come in the mail. Until then is it best to start non interest payments now to stop it from going to collections or is it best to let it go to collections then negotiate with them. I don't have 5000 and I won't have it for a while. I've got a family and I've saved this money specifically for this. I can do my best to afford the monthly non interest payments but I'd rather not. It would make things tight for sure.

I recently took my child to a hospital for surgery that she really needed. I knew ahead of time what percentage my copay would be (10% of the allowable rate).

The lady who checked us in said I had to pay $3500. I was like, nah that doesn’t sound right. I asked why can’t they just bill insurance and then send me a bill. She said it was an “estimate”

I mean how can they know what supplies are gonna be used in surgery and how long my child will be there. The $3500 didn’t sound right at all.

I said, I don’t have $3500 today. So I was pretty much forced to take out a line of credit thru the hospital care credit type thing. (I’m sure the hospital gets a fee anytime someone opens an account) If I didn’t pay the money, my child wouldn’t get to have her much needed outpatient surgery.

So reluctantly i had to apply for credit and pay the money.

I am so angry. How can they get away with this?? I know that’s not gonna be my amount due. I’m an 100 percent sure of that.

So I know they will owe me money. I’ve had this happen before. I’ve overpaid for a medical service and my actual amount owed was less, and they don’t refund the difference. I have to go thru hoops just to get my money back.

Does this happen to anyone else? Do I have any recourse? I mean, how do I avoid having to go thru this again ?

Is this the norm now? You have to pay and “estimate” for surgery and then hope you get your money back. 🤬

Edited to add: we have Aetna MHBP (Mail Handlers Benefit Plan thru the federal government)

last month i went to fl for a week and went to the ER for a uti, as that is the only place to take my insurance. i received a bill from the ER already for $50 after insurance covered 2.5k for lab, ER and pharmacy. today i received a bill from physicanbillpay.com for $1,261 and a bill from east coast pathology of florida for $40 from my UAC. i was wondering if these 2 bills are scams. they came in about 2 weeks after my ER bill.

Long story short I’m from California, I got in a bit of trouble and was supposed to be booked in jail. My vitals didn’t check out and they took me to the hospital. At one point my officer releases my but never told me you’ll be financially responsible for everything.

I do have money to pay for the bill but for what was done was ridiculous, almost 10,000 for test and stuff. I want to apply for charity but wondering on what they check for.

i'm applying for financial aid for a $3.2k ER bill and i live in an apartment with my bf who is unemployed currently. would he count as part of my household? im not sure since we're not married but it would look good for me on the financial aid application (i think) if i could show that im the sole provider for a 2 person home.

My newborn needed a transfer from the ER to a NICU, and the hospital arranged the ambulance transfer within their system. I just received a bill for over $5,600 from the ambulance company. My insurance has an allowable amount for the service, but I’m being charged the difference between that allowable and the full billed amount.

The ambulance provider was out-of-network according to them and my insurance, and these extra charges aren’t applying toward my in-network out-of-pocket max. It’s worth noting I hit that OOP max of $6500 during the NICU stay, so I have nearly $12,000 of bills coming my way.

Since this was a medically necessary transfer arranged by the hospital, I’m confused and frustrated about this huge bill and the balance billing situation, especially since I had no choice in the provider.

My insurance is through GEHA and they had me contact ClearHealth to negotiate costs but to me it doesn’t seem like this should need to be negotiated and my insurance should cover the entire bill with in-network benefits. I have reached out to everyone I can possibly think of, ambulance company, insurance, the hospital. And everyone I talk to just points the finger at eachother. I have an appeal in process with my insurance company but do not have high hopes that they will change their decision. Shit like this just makes me want to give up.

I noticed that my relatives’ hospital bill ER has been completely discounted, and the current balance is zero. I hope it hasn’t been sent to collection, and their application for charity has been approved. How can I ensure this? Ps: all this happened in 45 days.

I was in the mental hospital in December. The staff were so rude and terrible and did none of the services they said they’d do such as therapy. For 2 days after insurance my bill came to $5300. They refused to give me clean underwear yet I owe them $5300 for sitting and staring at a wall for 2 days and losing my job.

So now it’s in collections because I still haven’t found a new job. I’ve gotten rejected from coffee shops as a cashier even and I used to be a sales manager.

I called the agency today to ask for a payment plan and my cheapest option is paying $275 a month… I’ll be homeless and not be able to pay for my meds.

What can I do to be able to rent or get leases if needed and not go bankrupt? I thought I’d be able to get a lower payment plan like I heard of other people getting. I knew someone who had cancer and only had to pay $50 a month for a bill that cost way more than mine.

Please I’m panicking.

I went to the ER because I felt a snap on the back of my leg playing basketball. My initial thought was that I injured my Achilles and so I went to the ER to get it checked out. I was there for about 5 hours just for them to take an X-ray and tell me to go ice it at home. They said the x-ray didn’t show any bone fracture but they didn’t check anything else despite me telling them that I think it was my Achilles..anyways I listened and did the RICE method at home for about 2 weeks but by the third week it was still painful to walk normal so I went to an orthopedic specialist, they did the Thompson test and declared I did in fact rupture my Achilles, they sent me home with a boot and crutches and scheduled me for a surgery two days later. I got a bill from the emergency room for $1300 for the x-ray and the terrible/lack of service and diagnostics. I don’t feel like that visit was worth that much with the time I had to wait, telling me to just ice and sending me home with nothing. How do I get out of paying the bill?