In my experience, they sell the debt to a collection agency and you start getting nasty phone calls. That, on top of the other stuff you would expect like credit history hits. These charges I got insurance to figure out they were bogus, like billed for receiving treatments my grandmother never got, medications never administered, you name it. Took a lot of phone calls and getting a lawyer though. The whole system is irredeemable.
I think they actually can if you're unconscious
EVERY American needs an escape plan if they get sick/injured.
My mom needed dental work done. She didn't have the cash and asked if I could help pay for it. I started googling and a few days later we ended up in Budapest. We were there for a week. The flight, Airbnb, dental work, and some touristy stuff combined was less than 1/3rd of the cost of she had just went to the guy around the corner from her house.
If it's non-life threatening or chronic.. GTFO of the States.
Hmm, by what metric are the USA the richest country? Wealth of all citizens combined?
Average wealth of the people that matter (.0000001% - like 3 people) of the population
Wealthiest country, not healthy country. The US is not a developed nation anymore. Developed nation is a moving target, both because the bar raises as other nations move forward, and as tech/health advanced happen. A nation must keep investing in itself to stay in the developed nation category. The US stopped investing in itself seriously in the early 1980's and we've been coasting on May fronts since then.
We have immense wealth in the hands of corporations and the handul of individuals who really own them. The concentration of wealth is worse than during the Gilded Age of the Robber Barons that ended with the Great Depression and union wars.
The wealth has pushed up the cost of living while driving down the income of people not in higher positions already, creating a gulf of destitution anyone now joining the community must face. Some make it over, but more and more are not making the leap, and many who used to be past the hump of establishing a household and having a middle class lifestyle are backsliding into the gulf of destitution (that's me).
Corporate profits are at all time record highs while effective incomes are lower than they've been in many decades. The nation as a whole has lots of money, but the average person is being crushed by greed and no protection by our government. We're a rich, but failed nation now.
So this isn't far from what you should do if you're uninsured. Ask for an itemized bill. Refuse to pay their initial offer. Suddenly the hospital will be quick to lower your bill and work out a fair payment plan. Hospitals hate collections as much as you do
And how about when insured and it's still insane? I had a regular checkup on a medical device. The doctor 15 minute long "how's it going, looks fine, see you in a year" was billed at $360 and using the machine to check that the device was fine was $250. With other add one the total "cost" was $690. Outrageous.
Insurance (supposedly good) paid about $300 of it. Holy crap. A single visit to have a doc say you're good at a rate of $1450/hr ended up being more than I can save in a month. Complete insanity. I've gotta get out of this country.
Well that's super not how debt works.
Why is this getting downvoted to hell? This is fucking funny
This actually works lmao some people just refuse to pay and they eventually drop the debt collectors
It really does work. I've never paid a hospital bill ever. Yes your credit is fucked for the next 7 years, but all you have to do is have some patience and your score will recover. Debt collectors can't do shit if you won't pick up the phone. I'm a Millenial; not picking up the phone is all I know how to do.
I somewhere read that most US hospitals have some hypocritical oak or something like that. I could be wrong since I got my broken leg fixed for some of my monthly income.
hippocratic
I guess named after Hippocrates