I found out my wife was pregnant about a week before shit really hit the fan. We were completely prepared, had money saved up and everything.
The covid hit. We both lost our jobs, and unemployment wasn't nearly enough to cover the bills. I couldn't find another job anywhere.
We lost everything. Both of my cars got repoed, I get eviction notices every single month because rent is behind. We pulled out credit cards for food because we don't qualify for assistance.
Slowly, we both got jobs, I got lucky and jumped right back into my career that I love, and we're still trying to get on our feet. The credit cards are killing us.
Oh, and when our daughter was born, she had to be life flown to another city because she almost passed away (long story). 150k bill. After insurance.
There was an (executive order ?) during covid where you weren't allowed to receive a large bill from medical emergencies and be required to pay it, if you had insurance.
Have you heard of/looked into this?
They could send a bill, but they would call it 'an accident', and then ask if you wanted to pay it out of the kindness of your heart. If you don't, they just write it off on their books and call it a day.
I wanna say part of the stipulation was that it couldn't be a surprise bill. Like I had a surgery that the insurance said they would cover 100% after my deductible. I have the surgery, and get bills from every mf in the building that day, basically, 'cause everyone billed individually as contractors in some way. Some contractor nurses they had called in to fill in, the anesthesiologist, supplies used by a doctor, the homeless guy panhandling outside, I forget what else, all billed separately. None of it pre-authorized, and I had already contacted the hospital and my surgeon's office previously to try to prevent some nonsense like this. Anyway, I called and bargained some of it down, as insurance gets a higher bill, which they passed onto me as it wasn't pre authorized, then spent months trying to save up to pay this additional burden of debt. I was looking into getting cheap legal counsel 'cause it was gonna be near impossible, it was a struggle, etc. etc. So I called them back one day seeing if I could negotiate further, got transferred a few times, until someone was nice enough to explain to me what I said earlier, and that if I just ignore it, they'll write it off before the end of the year, but if I could make any kind of payment, as everyone put work in and it leaves "them" high and dry. Just to highlight the gouging, one of my bills before the surgery was over a thousand bucks for some gauze, bandaids, and a cane from my initial emergency visit (also billed separately from the rest of the visit). I saw how much insurance had already paid the surgeon and hospital, and shrugged my shoulders and slept fine that night not giving them another cent. I thanked the Ctulhus for liberals.
Edit: some further advice for the commenter and anyone else, Reddit was a good place to learn tactics on how to negotiate medical debt down, it also gave me a bit of hope, knowing there were plenty of "success" stories. I've been able to negotiate other medical bills down by massive percentages.
I would say yes, but I am drowning in debt now. Always a month behind which brings late fees which makes things harder to keep up on.
Also, pg&e burnt the town next to us entirely down (today is the anniversary!) and their solution to dealing with all the lawsuits, was to raise everyones utility bills. My bill was $50 to $100 before the fire. Last month it was $400. I haven't been running heat or AC and the app says my energy usage is consistent for my home size.
I found out my wife was pregnant about a week before shit really hit the fan. We were completely prepared, had money saved up and everything.
The covid hit. We both lost our jobs, and unemployment wasn't nearly enough to cover the bills. I couldn't find another job anywhere.
We lost everything. Both of my cars got repoed, I get eviction notices every single month because rent is behind. We pulled out credit cards for food because we don't qualify for assistance.
Slowly, we both got jobs, I got lucky and jumped right back into my career that I love, and we're still trying to get on our feet. The credit cards are killing us.
Oh, and when our daughter was born, she had to be life flown to another city because she almost passed away (long story). 150k bill. After insurance.
There was an (executive order ?) during covid where you weren't allowed to receive a large bill from medical emergencies and be required to pay it, if you had insurance.
Have you heard of/looked into this?
They could send a bill, but they would call it 'an accident', and then ask if you wanted to pay it out of the kindness of your heart. If you don't, they just write it off on their books and call it a day.
Source: happened to me
That would be amazing if true. I know it happened to you, but still sounds too good to be true in the US of A.
I wanna say part of the stipulation was that it couldn't be a surprise bill. Like I had a surgery that the insurance said they would cover 100% after my deductible. I have the surgery, and get bills from every mf in the building that day, basically, 'cause everyone billed individually as contractors in some way. Some contractor nurses they had called in to fill in, the anesthesiologist, supplies used by a doctor, the homeless guy panhandling outside, I forget what else, all billed separately. None of it pre-authorized, and I had already contacted the hospital and my surgeon's office previously to try to prevent some nonsense like this. Anyway, I called and bargained some of it down, as insurance gets a higher bill, which they passed onto me as it wasn't pre authorized, then spent months trying to save up to pay this additional burden of debt. I was looking into getting cheap legal counsel 'cause it was gonna be near impossible, it was a struggle, etc. etc. So I called them back one day seeing if I could negotiate further, got transferred a few times, until someone was nice enough to explain to me what I said earlier, and that if I just ignore it, they'll write it off before the end of the year, but if I could make any kind of payment, as everyone put work in and it leaves "them" high and dry. Just to highlight the gouging, one of my bills before the surgery was over a thousand bucks for some gauze, bandaids, and a cane from my initial emergency visit (also billed separately from the rest of the visit). I saw how much insurance had already paid the surgeon and hospital, and shrugged my shoulders and slept fine that night not giving them another cent. I thanked the Ctulhus for liberals.
Edit: some further advice for the commenter and anyone else, Reddit was a good place to learn tactics on how to negotiate medical debt down, it also gave me a bit of hope, knowing there were plenty of "success" stories. I've been able to negotiate other medical bills down by massive percentages.
Moving forward, do you think you will save up more in an emergency fund than you did previously?
I would say yes, but I am drowning in debt now. Always a month behind which brings late fees which makes things harder to keep up on.
Also, pg&e burnt the town next to us entirely down (today is the anniversary!) and their solution to dealing with all the lawsuits, was to raise everyones utility bills. My bill was $50 to $100 before the fire. Last month it was $400. I haven't been running heat or AC and the app says my energy usage is consistent for my home size.
It's expensive to be poor.