I have a question about settling.
I have one collection dragging me down. It‘s for a hospital stay but it’s the ER doctor bill, so I don’t know if doctors qualify as medical debt. The hospital and lab people and all that is not delinquent. Just the doctor.
I don’t know if the debt was sold but I suspect it was as the collection agency is 1200 miles from here.
The visit was December ‘22 but I don’t know the exact date it became delinquent. I’m guessing around March, which puts me just under halfway to it aging off. If its seven years, which I think it is, I’m already over three years into it.
The collection is dated December ‘23.
I would like to pay the whole amount owed of $1600+ if I can pay the doctors. I do not want to pay a collection agency. So here are my two questions:
(1) Can I still pay the actual doctors?
…and if not…
(2) Will this get easier to settle in six months or a year? By easier, I mean “more likely to be able to” and/or “pay less”. Should I just settle it now? If it’s an agency then I want to pay as little as possible.