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0 pointsJohnMakin4mo ago0 comments

I feel a great deal of sympathy for you. A medical event wiped out my meager life savings - I’m a tad younger but I worked my whole life for much of it just to go “poof” because of exactly what you are describing. I don’t feel I have a hope at retiring anymore and it makes me really depressed.

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tonymet4mo ago

thank you for saying that and I share your sadness / anger . A lot of people do. It’s not your fault, or ours. Healthcare is a truly evil bureaucracy staffed with some of the most loving and capable people I’ve seen. So I’ve been able to admire the beauty of the situation while remaining angry at “the system”.

antisthenes4mo ago

1. There are assistances available for low-net-worth and low income individuals. Have you tried those options?

2. Refuse to pay. Medical debt doesn't count against your credit and, based on my own experience, is almost impossible for the other party to collect, except some annoying phone calls.

JohnMakinOP4mo ago

I make a good living. I have some of the "best" available health insurance. It's just bordering on scam/fraudulent. Not aware of what programs you're talking about other than medi-cal (medicaid). Which I do not qualify for.

As I alluded in another post I do often let debt go to collections. The issue is often not the collections calls, but that your provider will be even more aggressive about demanding up front payment to continue receiving care. Or stop seeing you. I have a rare neuro muscular disease that only a handful of doctors are even very knowledgeable about where I live.

antisthenes4mo ago

> Not aware of what programs you're talking about other than medi-cal (medicaid)

I was talking about individual hospital programs. They typically have those programs as part of whatever hospital system that is.

Something like this:

https://www.adventisthealthcare.com/patients-visitors/billin...

But you would probably not qualify for something like this due to income. I happened to have a minor accident while unemployed (<$10k income that year) about 10 years ago, and the hospital financial aid forgave most of the cost.

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tonymet4mo ago

antisthenes4mo ago

1. There are assistances available for low-net-worth and low income individuals. Have you tried those options?

2. Refuse to pay. Medical debt doesn't count against your credit and, based on my own experience, is almost impossible for the other party to collect, except some annoying phone calls.

JohnMakinOP4mo ago

antisthenes4mo ago

> Not aware of what programs you're talking about other than medi-cal (medicaid)

I was talking about individual hospital programs. They typically have those programs as part of whatever hospital system that is.

Something like this:

https://www.adventisthealthcare.com/patients-visitors/billin...

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse