A huge Snowflake
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| Tue, 07-26-2005 - 1:30pm |
I must have eaten a good karma pill because I was given a huge 'snowflake' on the medical bills that sent me to this board in the first place.
I had no health insurance and a very minor medical emergency last year that was originally going to cost me around $4000. With the main bill, which was the only one that I could negotiate a discount for, was $3,020.36. I negotiated a 35% discount leaving me a bill of $2,237.31. I set up an interest free payment plan at $75 per month (just on that bill) and had 30 months of payments - 2 1/2 years to pay it off. For something that was cured with a course of antibiotics I was stunned - though happy it wasn't going to cost more. I try not to live paycheck to paycheck, but being single and having a mortgage it really cut into money. Luckily my health insurance kicked in 2 weeks after. I'm sure my employers were happy!
So I found myself even with the discount with over $3000 of medical bills. Scary for me.
Last week I received the bill for my monthly payments and noticed that my bill was nearly $700 less than it should have been. I thought - oh great now I have to tell their billing dept. they have messed up my bill. What a headache but knew I had to call in case something came up in the future on it.
Yesterday I called and found out a second discount had been given on my account and it was legit. The hospital had decided to give the same discount across the board to everyone, so I was given another 5% off my original bill = $688. I almost wanted to cry for my good luck. It was a huge nearly $700 SNOWFLAKE!
Now I have around 10 months left of payments instead of 19. It was like being given a mortgage payment or a bonus in my hand.
I always recommend to people not to let these bills go by without trying to reach an agreement. They give these payment plans with no interest and let you say what you can afford to pay. I have one I pay only $10 a month on. I have the money now to pay it off, but since it is at no interest why bother - I might need that money for something else.
I also read a good thing today that says, "Identify your favourite reasons and excuses for not committing wholeheartedly to your financial goals. Is there anyone or anything in your life holding you back? Whatever it might be, accept complete responsibility for your life and take action today!"

Wow, thats great. Its always nice to get a break.
Shannon
Shannon
Yay! You are so correct-it is ALWAYS better to keep talking with the creditors (even is they are insufferable jerks...) and keep working with them. It's so much better to do this than run and hide. And yes, I've been on both sides of the equation, so I know!
This is so cool-good for you!
Lisa