u/chickenfuckbaby

Happy 4th of July fellow Americans.

Stop paying for medical bills. Before anyone chimes in that it's illegal or unethical (rule on sub), debt is not illegal, and uncollectible debt that does not hit your credit report affects you 0%. It's akin to going to a restaurant, paying the set price for an item, then the restaurant telling you that item was actually $10,000 after you eat. You can simply decide to walk out.

There are 11 states that have banned medical debt from hitting your credit report. California, New York, notably large. Other stats are possibly following suit.

What happens if you don't pay?

• Hospitals, medical services may still send your debt to a debt collector. Block that number and unknown callers, and you're kush. No - they cannot come seize your home or put you in the puppy pound. Nor does your insurance (if you have insurance) get canceled. The debt just fades into the history of time. And no, you will not be denied for necessary medical care in the future.
• A lot of threads tell you to negotiate with hospitals - if you live in those 11 states, you do not need to do this. Pop open a cold one and watch some fireworks instead, in this dystopian hell-hole we live in.
• OK - I don't live in those 11 states. What do I do? You can still refuse to pay. On average, FICO scores have been progressively going down, so the barrier to entry for getting approved for auto-loans or mortgages have been lessening in turn. If your medical debt(s) are under $500 in debt, it won't affect you. If you make small payments, it won't affect you (yes you can talk to hospital about this). Or you can simply not care about your FICO score, as that is... the zeitgeist of our society.
• Aren't there hacks, with your insurance, where if you ask the hospital/medical provider for an audit of the cost-of-goods-sold and necessity of procedures, that they'll most likely keel over? Yup. This post isn't about that but you can 100% do that and your bills will decrease. There's multiple posts on Reddit about this.

The point of the post is, I see so many Americans create GoFundMe's to pay for procedures, stress out about looming bills and go into severe debt to pay an arbitrary amount that was set by two-opposing factions (hospitals and insurance providers) that have 0 interest in you. Get the care you need, get the care you deserve, and save that money instead for something that's important for you and your family. Our culture is conditioned on guilt - and entities abuse that conditioning to squeeze as much out of you.

What will happen to society if I don't pay my debt? Who cares, but most likely we'll edge towards fair market prices for receiving care, and predatory systems wills naturally crumble (or.. let's face it.. be fine and profits will simply go down somewhere that won't even affect you).

Source: I have never paid for medical bills beyond insurance. Nothing has happened to me. My credit scores have never dipped. I have bought a home instead. And my friends that are doctors/medical professionals have done the same and agree. And no - not a lawyer / not financial advice. I'm just a regular guy.

edit: LPT took this post down. Posting here instead.

Happy 4th of July fellow Americans.

Stop paying for medical bills. Before anyone chimes in that it's illegal or unethical (rule on sub), debt is not illegal, and uncollectible debt that does not hit your credit report affects you 0%. It's akin to going to a restaurant, paying the set price for an item, then the restaurant telling you that item was actually $10,000 after you eat. You can simply decide to walk out.

There are 11 states that have banned medical debt from hitting your credit report. California, New York, notably large. Other stats are possibly following suit.

What happens if you don't pay?

• Hospitals, medical services may still send your debt to a debt collector. Block that number and unknown callers, and you're kush. No - they cannot come seize your home or put you in the puppy pound. Nor does your insurance (if you have insurance) get canceled. The debt just fades into the history of time. And no, you will not be denied for necessary medical care in the future.
• A lot of threads tell you to negotiate with hospitals - if you live in those 11 states, you do not need to do this. Pop open a cold one and watch some fireworks instead, in this dystopian hell-hole we live in.
• OK - I don't live in those 11 states. What do I do? You can still refuse to pay. On average, FICO scores have been progressively going down, so the barrier to entry for getting approved for auto-loans or mortgages have been lessening in turn. If your medical debt(s) are under $500 in debt, it won't affect you. If you make small payments, it won't affect you (yes you can talk to hospital about this). Or you can simply not care about your FICO score, as that is... the zeitgeist of our society.
• Aren't there hacks, with your insurance, where if you ask the hospital/medical provider for an audit of the cost-of-goods-sold and necessity of procedures, that they'll most likely keel over? Yup. This post isn't about that but you can 100% do that and your bills will decrease. There's multiple posts on Reddit about this.

The point of the post is, I see so many Americans create GoFundMe's to pay for procedures, stress out about looming bills and go into severe debt to pay an arbitrary amount that was set by two-opposing factions (hospitals and insurance providers) that have 0 interest in you. Get the care you need, get the care you deserve, and save that money instead for something that's important for you and your family. Our culture is conditioned on guilt - and entities abuse that conditioning to squeeze as much out of you.

What will happen to society if I don't pay my debt? Who cares, but most likely we'll edge towards fair market prices for receiving care, and predatory systems wills naturally crumble (or.. let's face it.. be fine and profits will simply go down somewhere that won't even affect you).

Source: I have never paid for medical bills beyond insurance. Nothing has happened to me. My credit scores have never dipped. I have bought a home instead. And my friends that are doctors/medical professionals have done the same and agree. And no - not a lawyer / not financial advice. I'm just a regular guy.