Payment Offered; refused.

[ßillcollector]

This thread is a perfect reminder for me how majority of my calls go. People bringing emotions when talking about money. Regardless what has happened with the OP, now either he can pay or he can't. Filing a lawsuit is a way for creditors to take a bite out of his future earning potential.

 

[muscle609]

umm hey idiot...the bill is 26 thousand dollars. i dont make that much in a year.

grow up man

 

[hexeliebe]

Ever hear of a second job?

Oh, I'm soooo sorry. I forgot, deadbeats don't like to work.

So sad, too bad. It's your debt and your responsibility. Looks like you won't even be making $26,000 this year or for the next 10 years now doesn't it?

And as I said before, garnishment is the least of your worries. You should be charged with Felony Fraud because, based on your own admission in this thread, you KNEW before signing the release papers that you had no way of paying. And yet you signed the papers promising to pay.

Be lucky you're not in jail. You would earn much less there and still face the debt when you got out.

 

[Ladynred]

Hex..get real - how many people do YOU know, including yourself, who could whip out their checkbook and write a check for $26,000 ??? I sure as hell couldn't, and the OP obviously can't either. Hospitals want it ALL and they want it NOW, usually. I shudder at the thought of the bills a person who has open heart surgery or extensive cancer treatment must face ! Hell, even having a baby can cost you that $25,000 if you have to stay more than the 48 hours that the insurance companies allow - then they shove woman and child out the door with the bum's rush !

Hospitals have very LIMITED options as far as 'repayment plans' are concerned and even more limited tolerance. Not everyone coming out of the hospital can go right back to work, and some can only go back in a limited capacity, sometimes for the rest of their lives !

Before y'all jump on my butt again for my OPINIONS, I am NOT implying that is the case for the OP, but claiming the guy should be in jail for fraud is a bit much. Why not just bring back debtor's prison ?? Now there was a brilliant idea - throw people in jail for debts they cannot pay - so you thereby GUARANTEE that the debts won't be paid because you can't earn a living behind bars --- some real idiot logic there.

I was in the hospital for back surgery 6-1/2 years ago. I was in the hospital for about 30 hours. The bill for that 30 hours was over $8,000 !!!!!!! I could not have paid that in full when I left, and I had to be out of work for an additional 6 weeks AFTER the surgery, so there was NO WAY I could have started making any payments for it either. I was on disabilty at 60% of my pay - it ONLY covered my mortgage and necessities. Fortunately for me, I DID have insurance and it paid most of the hospital bill. If I hadn't had any, I'd either had to live with crippling pain by forgoing surgery, or I'd have been bankrupt then.

This person WANTS to pay the damn bill, just can't afford the demands. Hex you've got the same diatribe as any collection agency - if you don't agree to their terms immediately, your labled as 'refusal to pay'. At least he's TRYING and isn't offering $10 a month !!!!

 

[JETX]

"If I hadn't had any, I'd either had to live with crippling pain by forgoing surgery, or I'd have been bankrupt then."
*** What about the option of contacting the local county agencies for assistance for the medical care??

 

[adevine]

*** What about the option of contacting the local county agencies for assistance for the medical care??
Now that is some good advice. So many of us don't even know about things like that. That's why we post. We have had perfect credit living within our means our whole lives and then the world changes and the companies where you work are taken over and you have major surgeries that cause your whole life to change and that's when you need help. We need more advice as to where you can go for help and support. Not everyone is trying not to pay their bills. Most of us makes us sicker knowing we have them and can't.

 

[Ladynred]

And what county agencies would those be, JetX ??

Are you speaking of United Way-type charities ? How much can you reasonably expect to get from those types of agencies ?

Greenville, SC, where I was, has a huge medical community and some excellent neurosurgeons. I went to the 2nd best guy in Greenville and went to Greenville Memorial. MY INSURANCE company gave me a hard time on the pre-authorization for the surgery. THEY wanted me to go to a hospital **30 miles** from my home and to a surgeon I knew NOTHING about ! Later I found out that neither the hospitals reputation OR the surgeon they wanted me to use was very good. The woman at the insurance company got very snotty with me when I told her there was no way I was going to a hospital 30 miles away to an unknown surgeon. Her reply was 'then we won't pay the full coverage'. I told her, FINE, I'll manage, but I'm not going THAT far and risking paralysis or having to have additional surgeries later because YOU take the CHEAP way out ! I did have to pay more, but I'm still pain free, no recurrance of the problem, and my scar is a mere 4 inches long and barely noticible. I was lucky to have the insurance for the rest of it, I know that.

I've never had the need for such charities, not yet anyway, so I've no idea - and I'd be willing to bet that most people don't.

 

[JETX]

Actually, there is a plethora (love that word!!) of community service agencies out there that can and do help. They range all the way from grassroots efforts at your church or community all the way up to highly organized groups like the Red Cross and United Way.

And yes, there is EVEN free or low-cost medical treatment out there.

As for where or who to contact, I would start with the blue pages (in the front of most phone books). You will find a PLETHORA of agencies available. In fact, contrary to some peoples claims, there are (in my opinion) too many government agencies to keep track of.... with more letters and abbreviations than in a can of alphabet soup!!

 

[JETX]

Yep, there are all kinds of justifications when someone else is paying the bill.
Wow.... all of THIRTY miles away!! What about the people in the midwest who live thirty miles away from their closest neighbor??

Geeze, I guess we are getting just too damn pampered in life.

Ladynred, it is clear that you and I have differing opinions on these issues. I see the glass as half full and try to figure out how to make it a full glass. Others see the glass as half-empty and wonder why they aren't given a full glass.

So be it... and never the twain shall meet.

 

[hexeliebe]

Well LadyinRed, you should know since you live in Tennessee that not only TenCare(yes I know it's problems, but it's there) and Vanderbilt, as well as 14 separate medical institutions and clinics in the Nashville area take patients on a sliding scale based on their ability to pay.

But I'll leave that to you and JetX to argue about.

I agree that hospitals are in business to make money. Why shouldn't they be? Doctors like to eat, Med Techs like to pay their bills? Is it outrageous? Depends on how many patients sue for ridiculous claims, how many patients don't pay their bills and a host of other things.

But I don't even want to address that? Let's talk about this question:

Hex..get real - how many people do YOU know, including yourself, who could whip out their checkbook and write a check for $26,000 ???

I'll just stick to Moran Rd. And if you know anything about Nashville you will already know the answer...all resident (my neighbors) can do what you asked, including me. In fact, I just 'whipped out my checkbook and wrote a $237,239 check for my ex-wife to undergo chemo therapy for an ovarian cyst that came back positive.

True, I wasn't always that blessed. But I always carried insurance, paid my own way (through 9 knee operations, a motorcycle accident that almost cost me my life and many other stupid incidents) and two years before I sold my company completed paying off a hospital bill I had from 1983 when a bleeding ulcer again almost cost me my life.

Why was I making payments? Because I went to the hospital credit department BEFORE I signed the release papers and let them know I couldn't afford to pay the bill in full, worked out a payment plan and NEVER missed a payment, even when I wasn't working.

The plain fact is, some people take advantage of the system and others thank God for the life they have and all those who have helped keep it going.

Plain and simple.

 

[bigun]

Some people have been able to negoiate discounts when they can't pay in full. The key is communicate early-before it gets to collections.


http://www.creditboards.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10792&highlight=negoiating+hospital+discounts

 

[Ladynred]

Hex,

I know NOTHING of Moran Rd .. don't even know where it is, though I could venture a guess. You and your rich neighbors are in the minority. A debt of $237,000 would be utterly impossible for most people. I'd be in my grave before I could ever pay off something like that, and it would probably kill me trying !

I just pray to God that I'll never have to deal with the likes of TennCare - what a mess THAT is ! And no, I don't know that 14 hospitals have sliding scales. Did you not read my post .. I'M NOT FROM TENNESSEE !!! I've only lived here 2-1/2 years, I don't know what all the hospitals here do, I've only ever set foot in ONE of them - St. Thomas, and that wasn't even for me !!!

Hex... I never said there aren't people who will play the system, I'm may be cynical, but I'm not stupid.


JetX .. yes 30 miles away.. which I found to be ludicrous considering that Greeville Memorial was only SIX miles away ! Pampered.. maybe.. I found it ridiculous to have to go that far when there was a perfectly good hospital a LOT closer. I'd like to see you lay down on a table and let someone cut open YOUR back and work on YOUR spine when the surgeon is picked by the INSURANCE company because his fees are CHEAPER, not because he's a good surgeon !! You know as well as I do that in the medical profession, reputation is huge, for the Docs AND the hospitals. I had the option to go to a hospital known to be VERY good and a surgeon that came highly recommended. You'd take the same option. I paid the difference and I' m glad I did !

If you're in an area of the country where you have NO options and facilities are far away.. then you literally have NO choice. I had a choice, thankfully, and I chose NOT to go to a hospital with a lousy reputation just so the insurance company could cheap-out. I felt that my spine and my health, present and future, were more important than their penny-pinching. Given the choice, who wouldn't ??

Never the twain shall meet.. that's the truth !! I don't expect handouts.. I don't EXPECT to be GIVEN anything for that matter.

"There is no free lunch" - not ever, there is ALWAYS a price.

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state?

Arizona

Is there some sort of law regulating a creditor to accept a bonified offer of payment on an account? If I was to make an offer of a monthly payment and they refuse it and wish to make garnishment, isnt that illegal?

How can a creditor pursue garnishment when a reasonable offer to make payment was placed. And if they did garnish, I'm sure they would not receive much more than what was offered.

**A: Let's get back to the original question. The answer is still no ( as stated by first responder JETX) and a garnishment is not illegal period. It does not matter what the bill was for or what personal opinions and experiences people have regarding this subject.

 

[lovingdaddy2]

Hospitals

Hey I live in Arizona and Guess what hospitals dont care if you make $0.00 they will come after your CHILDREN that is 3 years old for payment - LOL

My husband and I are going to court over a attemped "garnishment" -
We applied for help with the hospital for $2700.00 bill for "or children, myself I spent 3 days there, emergency room visits " they demanded we pay $100.00 a month at the time -
We had a 750.00 house payment , 451.00 auto payment , a 100.00 phone bill plus others living needs, we told them all we can afford is $25.00 THEY TOO REFUSED . I for got $200.00 in child support too-
We filed our Answer against the garnishment about 3 months ago- still have not heard nothing from either the collection agency-
It is kinda strange how we take the same things to the hospital and get denied and then go to the DES office and get approved for medical assistance !!!

PUT EVERYTHING IN WRITING AND MAIL IT TOO THEM !!!
If they refuse something save it to show the courts -
Garnishments in az is 35% of your pay -
Unless you have another garnishment - than it is 10% - My bro in law has 8% Garnishment due to same hospital - but he pays CS and has a handicap child ! So the judge took that into consideration -
Collection agency dont know if you have other garnishment -
If your unable to live on the garnishment go to court and see if you can get it reduced - My brother-in-law did - and they had to pay him back almost $500.00 LOL -because they were taking way too much out

 

[wcademt]

wcademt

Yeah right when they release you they do not have your bill ready so it would be impossable to make payment arrangements at that time so go back to your white shirt castle and sit on the weather vein