Medical Bills in collection?

[tazball]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Massachusetts

Hi. First I want to say thank you in advance for any help I can get on this matter.

Last June I had to have a surgery for a hernia and my insurance had a 2000 dollar deductible that I have not had the money to pay. The hospital had sold the debt to a debt collector who immediately put it into collections on my credit report. An seeing I have heard that medical bills are not supposed to be allowed on your credit report I am asking to find out if it is legal for them to do it or not.

 

[RRevak]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Massachusetts

Hi. First I want to say thank you in advance for any help I can get on this matter.

Last June I had to have a surgery for a hernia and my insurance had a 2000 dollar deductible that I have not had the money to pay. The hospital had sold the debt to a debt collector who immediately put it into collections on my credit report. An seeing I have heard that medical bills are not supposed to be allowed on your credit report I am asking to find out if it is legal for them to do it or not.

Yes it is very legal for medical debt to be on your credit report. Why did you not attempt to make payment arrangements with the hospital before they sent it to collections?

 

[Zigner]

...I have heard that medical bills are not supposed to be allowed on your credit report...

Where did you hear that?

 

[RRevak]

Where did you hear that?

Google told OP that...but OP must not have continued reading past the beginning. The below is the first bit of information that comes up when googling "Does medical debt go on credit report".

When you owe money to your doctor or to a hospital, it generally does not show up on your credit report. However, if the bills go unpaid long enough and end up in collections, they're going to be on your credit report, and they will affect your ability to get credit, including a mortgage.Mar 8, 2013

 

[Zigner]

Google told OP that...but OP must not have continued reading past the beginning. The below is the first bit of information that comes up when googling "Does medical debt go on credit report".

Ahhhh, I see.

 

[ajkroy]

Depending on your agreement with your insurance, your insurance may take back their payment to the hospital. Your deductible is supposed to be the amount you pay first before any insurance money is paid out. You don't want to give your insurer a reason to take back their funds.

This is why hospitals expect their portions paid up front.

 

[Zigner]

Depending on your agreement with your insurance, your insurance may take back their payment to the hospital. Your deductible is supposed to be the amount you pay first before any insurance money is paid out. You don't want to give your insurer a reason to take back their funds.

This is why hospitals expect their portions paid up front.

They are not going to take back their payment.

 

[davew128]

They are not going to take back their payment.

Trying to picture someone in the hospital finance department responding to a request for repayment...

 

[TigerD]

Trying to picture someone in the hospital finance department responding to a request for repayment...

Start with hysterical laughter...

TD

 

[ajkroy]

I've had Fallon insurance do it to me a few times -- private outpatient, but I would expect their rules for hospital billing to be the same. And they don't ask for the repayment, they just do a takeback on the next patient's bill. When I called for an explanation, the rep told me that the patient who wasn't paying their deductible was not following the terms of their insurance and they were well within their rights to take it back. I was flabbergasted...but I never forgot it. That's why I shared my experience here.