As the prevalence of significant errors and cost inflation continues to rise on medical and hospital bills, the number of medical and hospitals bills being sent into debt collections is growing as well. Mark Rieger, Chief Executive of National Healthcare Exchange Services states, “The reason is that the portion of the bill that patients owe has become a larger percentage of medical practices’ and hospitals’ revenue.”
In 2010, an estimated 9.2 million people aged 19 to 64 were contacted by a collection agency because of a billing mistake, according to research by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit research group, while 30 million were contacted by a collection agency because of an unpaid medical bill. Unfortunately, as the cost of health care continues to rise, thousands of individuals simply cannot afford to buy health insurance. Sara Collins, a Vice President at Commonwealth states, “You can’t afford to buy a policy, you can’t afford to buy coverage through your job, and you end up in the E.R., and you have to pay for that visit, and even more you have to pay at non-negotiated prices.” Additionally, those who can afford to buy health insurance are still being presented with outrageous medical and hospital bills as a result of inflated medical charges and significant medical billing errors.
Clearly, the best way to ensure your medical or hospital bills do not go into collection is to simply pay the debt, however, if your medical bills are extraordinarily high and you simply cannot afford to pay them, a good solution is to have your medical bills professionally audited to guarantee they are absolutely correct with no medical billing errors, and no grossly inflated fees. By significantly reducing your medical bills, you have a greater chance that you will be able to pay your medical debt and in return you will not be negatively impacting your credit score. Contact Relamatrix Medical Bill Review, LLC for more information or for a free consultation regarding your high medical or hospital bill at (800)-653-7526.
Citation:
Tara Siegel Bernard. The New York Times. “Discrepancies on Medical Bills Can Leave a Credit Stain.” May 4, 2012.