Medical bills do have the potential to negatively affect your credit rating. However, there are safeguards in place to make sure that you are not unduly affected by the increasingly high cost of professional medical care in the United States. Furthermore, there could be some legal ways to get help paying for your bills.
Credit ratings are complicated, but one of the largest factors is your payment history. Late payments and delinquent accounts can quickly drop your score. Additionally, interest rates tend to be rather high on these loans — it usually pays off to address any outstanding money as quickly as possible.
As explained by credit-rating giant Experian, there are various ways to reduce the impact of medical debt, both before and after you receive treatment. Here are a few examples:
- Negotiate cost of treatment
- Confirm the accuracy of bills
- Establish payment plans
- Manage costs via insurance
The first item on this list, negotiating the cost of treatment, is often most effective before a procedure. However, under the right circumstances, providers and insurance companies could be amenable to a reduction if it makes sense considering the details of your case. This may involve navigating multiple bureaucracies, but the reduced price could be worth it if you were able to perform the negotiation effectively.
As mentioned above, other parties may also have some responsibility to cover your expenses. One example would be if you were injured at work. Workers’ compensation laws are complex, and sometimes even employers do not recognize the full extent of their responsibility to you. Getting a case-by-case perspective is important in these matters, so please do not use this article as legal advice. It is only meant to be a general background.