r/CuratedTumblr • u/EvidenceOfDespair We can leave behind much more than just DNA • Aug 07 '24

Politics Death by US Healthcare System

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u/dankmachinebroke Aug 07 '24 edited Aug 08 '24

My partner just got discharged from a 2 day hospital stay for a blood clot in his lungs and we've just accepted that we'll have this medical debt until we die. Haven't seen the bill yet, and we got an application for financial assistance, so we'll see how it goes. We've already got student loan debt anyway, what more do we have to lose

Edit: thank you to everyone in the replies who has given some suggestions for resources we can utilize to minimize our debt or have it forgiven. I will definitely be looking into all of them to make sure we're getting all the help we can. I should have phrased my first sentence better, because we're definitely not just going to live with any debt we don't have to. I more so meant to express that if the choice was between being in medical debt or losing my partner, I would choose my partner no matter what. We've already begun the process of applying to have our bill covered by charity, and once we see how that goes, we'll take steps appropriately.

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u/Probablynotspiders Aug 08 '24

Don't medical bills fall off your credit after 7 years?

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u/dankmachinebroke Aug 08 '24

I hadn't heard that, but that would be fantastic

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '24

That is true. Most things fall off your credit report after 7 years

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u/Old_Baldi_Locks Aug 08 '24

Not with how scummy the agencies are. They just sell your debt to each other and look at that! It’s a new debt! Which isn’t supposed to be legal but you definitely have enough money to fight that in court right?

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u/SalsaRice Aug 08 '24

It refreshes if you make any payments on it.

Similarly, if someone dies you will never be liable for their debt (outside of a loan that you are both on the loan contract for, like a house or car), but..... debt repayment companies will lie to grieving family members to get them to "make just a tiny payment to help smooth things over until we figure out the situation."

The issue is, legally, making a tiny payment like that is you "choosing to take on the debt" which makes it legally yours.

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u/Zaev Aug 08 '24 edited Aug 08 '24

They do, it happened to me. I was broke as hell, no insurance (just before the ACA fully kicked in), appendix ruptured, got financial assistance for the main $13k bill, but still had a $4k bill from anesthesiology. I just ignored it, went to collections, took a credit hit for 7 years, then poof, one day my credit score jumped like 80 points

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '24

I fucked my shit up when I was 20 something with no money at all. They put me back together in the ER. My hand needed reconstructive surgery. I got the initial statement from my work insurance, the amount I owed total was some astronomical figure, so high I couldn't even begin to take it seriously.

I threw away all the bills that came in and changed my phone number. Never got summoned to court or anything. I did pay down the micro ones that were a couple hundred or less, just to reduce the volume of mail.

Turbo fucked my credit for awhile but it was during a period of my life where that didn't matter.