Medical Bills in Chapter 13

[mountanddo]

I am 8 payments in a 3 year Chapter 13. I am paying the minimum of $100/month. Recently I had to go to the doctor a couple of times and even though I have health insurance due to the deductible and 80/20 plan I have a bill with the doctors office of $1000. I have been paying $50/month on this bill. I recently received a letter from them acknowledging that I have been paying on this bill but it isn't enough and doesn't fall into their "payment terms" and that I should call there office to make a payment plan acceptable to them or they would need to send my account to collections. Basically, $50 a month is all that I can pay. Will they just then send the bill to collections even though they are getting payments each month or is this a threat? How will this affect my credit seeing as I am already in a chapter 13? Finally, is there any way that I can include this bill in my chapter 13? It may be more to file the claim than the bill is but I thought I'd ask.

I'm irritated because I am trying to pay something on this bill and it still isn't good enough.

[despritfreya]

This is not a big deal. All you need to do is ask for a waiver of Plan payments so that you can divert $$ to pay this unanticipated medical bill. To cover the missed Plan payments either extend your Plan beyond 36 months or, once you resume Plan payments, have them increase a bit over the balance of the 36 months to compensate.

Motions for Moratoriums are filed all the time and are rarely denied. Typically the only issue that comes up is the filing of a new Schedule I and J to show one can still afford the bk. If your income or normal monthly expenses have increased (or decreased) such could affect the Plan payment but this issue is usually worked out.

Des.

[mountanddo]

Ugh, thanks Des. I don't really want to extend my chapter 13 for 6 months which is what it will take to pay off the bill IF they accept $150/month. I'll continue paying the $50 a month and see what they do. If they send it to collections they will most likely be happy with the $50 though they will probably add interest. I was finally able to cancel my cell phone contract with T-mobile which will save me $100 a month there so I'll try to send them more. Just seems it never ends....once you think you are on your way out of debt something else happens.

[Flamingo]

Any bills incurred after your Plan is confirmed are your own responsibility and you have to pay them the best you can. The only other thing is as you were advised above and you can speak to your attorney but remember to file motions or modify your plan, your attorney is going to charge you extra - usually about $400 or so - to file a motion. Check with your attorney. I certainly would not be late with these payments and advise them that at the moment that is all you can afford to pay them and you will pay more if you are able. It's tough in a Chapter 13 when bills come in like this and the only way to offset them is to save whatever you can to pay toward the unexpected.

[mountanddo]

yeah, the last thing I want to do is incur more debt to pay off debt I already can't afford.

[lillymarlene]

yeah, the last thing I want to do is incur more debt to pay off debt I already can't afford.

I feel the same way about everything, too. I should really get a couple of hearing aids. My hearing is getting worse, but the last thing I want to do is have my plan modified, open up that "can of worms" and incur more debt I cannot afford.

[angel7821]

Mountanddo is it possible you could get the doctor bills written off? I was able to do this last year when I got pneumonia and walked out of the clinic with an 800.00 bill that I could not pay. I was sending checks in for 10.00 which honestly was all I could afford. The billing dept at the clinic sent my check back with paperwork for me to fill out and I was to send in proof of my monthy income and copies of all my bills I was paying. They took a look at all of that when they got it back from me and said they would just write off the debt. People donate money for those of us who can't pay our medical bills. Call the billing dept and see what you can do about getting them to write off the debt. It is worth a try anyway. Good luck to you on this matter.

[catleg]

I doubt they know about your chapter 13 right?
Explain that you're paying what you can, but you're already under a court supervised repayment scheme and there is no way to get them additional money, you are on a budget and cannot borrow, if they press the issue you may be forced to convert to chapter 7 which would wipe out their debt. (maybe just hinting at this last part, they do not want to be long term creditors but they do not really have a choice). $50 a month gets the bill paid in 20 months. That does not seem too crazy to me.
Maybe you can also negotiate a reduced balance in exchange for an increased payment. I would avoid letting it go to outside collections though. Just keep talking.

[karm43]

My son was in a bad accident the hospital wrote his bills off the other hospital did not. Anyway we attempted to get help with his dr because he couldn't work and they said they don't except it. Each hospital has speacial programs, dr rarely accept them. So he got dropped by the dr but i knoew the dr would have accepted any amount, I am sure it is a threat just to get your money faster i dought they will send it anywhere. Just keep paying the 50.

[papie]

I used to work in medical billing and collections.

Different hospitals have different terms and agreements. A lot of times, even in you are paying, they have to have some kind of payment arrangement set up in their computer system. And sometimes they are only allowed to keep an open bill in their office for so long before they send it to an outside billing agency. The first thing you need to do is see if you qualify for any financial assistance. If you don't qualify, tell them what you can pay, and be firm with them. If they threaten to send it to collections- tell them to go ahead and send it, because it's their loss.

If they do send it to collections, call and set something up with the collection agency. Collection agencies are generally more lenient than the hospital.

A lot of hospitals do not allow their patient bills to be sent to credit bureaus, and generally the ones that do, require that the collection agency wait X amount of months before reporting negative information. I have never heard of a collection agency reporting negative information for a medical bill when you are actively trying to pay them.

Don't play their games and stand firm. Some collection reps can be pretty forceful, but they back down whenever they realize that you know more than they do.