Even with medical insurance, it’s possible to need medical assistance or procedures that leave you with extremely large medical bills to deal with once you’ve gotten better. If you have a hard time making ends meet as it is, the added financial burden of large medical bills can put an unhealthy amount of stress on your recovering body and your bank account. However, for the sake of your credit and your physician, you’ve got to handle these bills somehow.
While you may feel like your medical bills are a mountain you’ll never be able to get on top of, there are some things you can do that may make paying your medical bills a little easier on you. To show you how, here are three tips for dealing with large medical bills.
For Best Results, Address Issues Quickly
Although you may want to just take those huge bills and hide them away somewhere so you don’t have to think about them, Lacie Glover, a contributor to U.S. News and World Report, shares that the best course of action, no matter how daunting paying these bills may seem, is to address them as quickly as possible. If you go too long without paying on your bill or contacting the physician or clinic you owe money to, they could very well send that bill to collections. If that happens, your chances of negotiating your bill severely decrease because your provider will be much easier to contact and reason with than a collection agency. So to keep this from happening to you, act relatively quickly.
Try To Negotiate
If you realize that you’re in way over your head with your medical bills, one course of action you can take is to try to negotiate your bill. Three of the most common ways people can get their medical bills negotiated, according to Caroline Mayer, a contributor to Forbes, are arranging a payment plan, getting a discount for paying off the bill in one payment, and bargaining down specific amounts you’ve been charged for specific services. Make sure you know your bill and the itemized costs for your procedures or services before you attempt to negotiate your bill. This will save both you and your medical provider a lot of time and stress.
When All Else Fails, Seek Legal Counsel
There may be a circumstance where regardless of how you try to make it work with your budget or negotiations, you’re still not able to pay what you should on your medical bills. If you find yourself in this situation, Steve Bucci, a contributor to Bankrate.com, suggests contacting a lawyer and seeking their professional counsel. They may be able to help you better negotiate or advise you of financial options that could ease the burden of your medical bills.
Having any kind of debt looming over you is never a fun experience. If you have a large medical bill that you can’t seem to get out from under, use the tips mentioned above to help you get back up on your feet both physically and financially.