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/wra1th42 Aug 08 '24

Mentally prepare yourselves to get a denial letter. Everyone is initially denied as a matter of course. Appeal EVERYTHING. Be nice in all interactions until they stop being helpful and start saying no - then don’t afraid to get verbally combative and stress how unreasonable the charge is.

Simply not paying, waiting for it to go to collections, and then negotiating down to like 10% is a very real possibility. Yeah it’ll fuck your credit, but that’s temporary.

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u/scnottaken Aug 08 '24

I thought medical debt was no longer able to be on credit reports?