Old hospital/doctor bills

**kattails** · 09-08-2009, 11:26 AM

I apologize in advance if this is posted in the wrong place. my dh has a small amount of debt which consists of doctor/hospital bills. he had no insurance at the time and they were accumulated before we married, so most of them are dated to drop off of his credit between Dec. '09 and Nov. '10. should he pay them off since he has had them for so long or just let them drop off? would it make a difference in his credit rating if he did pay them off? I was told if the bills were to come off in the next year it's just better to let it drop off.

**semo_mom** · 09-08-2009, 11:58 AM

With me, and this is only a personal view, I'd pay them off. I would feel very guilty owing money and not paying it back.

**Greebo** · 09-08-2009, 12:16 PM

Originally Posted by kattails

I apologize in advance if this is posted in the wrong place. my dh has a small amount of debt which consists of doctor/hospital bills. he had no insurance at the time and they were accumulated before we married, so most of them are dated to drop off of his credit between Dec. '09 and Nov. '10. should he pay them off since he has had them for so long or just let them drop off? would it make a difference in his credit rating if he did pay them off? I was told if the bills were to come off in the next year it's just better to let it drop off.

Did they heal him?

Is he still breathing?

On what basis would you justify not paying the people who healed him in his time of need, if you're able to pay the debts?

**kattails** · 09-08-2009, 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by Greebo

Did they heal him?

Is he still breathing?

On what basis would you justify not paying the people who healed him in his time of need, if you're able to pay the debts?

heal him? no
breathing? yes, but he was doing that before he went to the dr.

maybe I should have been more specific with the question....at least 3 of the bills would be dropped off before he could pay 50% of them. so should he stop paying on the ones he is paying on now and pay on one that is scheduled to come off in 3 months?

**craftypam** · 09-08-2009, 12:46 PM

I agree with Greebo; he incurred the debt and should pay it back. This is why the cost of medical care is getting soo out of control.
I am "talking" to you from someone who has been paying my own health insurance for 30 years AND I pay my co pays even if it is in monthly installments.

**Greebo** · 09-08-2009, 12:51 PM

Better for what? Better for your credit score or for your integrity?

Look - if you start paying them back, they're going to refresh, which means they'll stay on your credit record for longer.

If the doctors/hospital/whatever provided the service that he needed at the time, and if he has the means to pay them back without his own family starving, then it's a debt that is owed, and the moral thing to do is repay the debt, regardless of what's "better" for your credit score.

**Palooka** · 09-08-2009, 11:07 PM

I know how hard it would be to get stuck without insurance and I am sure the debt is big. If you have the money I would try my best to pay them back.

I've had some big medical expenses before and it was a hard long road, but I was able to do it.

But that is me.

**Debbie-cat** · 09-08-2009, 11:17 PM

My honest opinion... I would pay them off. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't. When DH went through his radical mouth surgery for cancer a few years back, the doctor bill was over $350,000 yes....$350,000. The one shot he needed before each chemo treatment alone was $800. We sold everything we could except our property which was paid in full and started plunking money down. He had no health insurance but once the doctor signed a form half way through the treatments that said he could not work during the treatments, then some type of insurance took over the payments for him (I am not sure what it was because I am Canadian and the American system is extremely confusing for me). We did everything we could and last fall, we made the last payment.

Our belief was ...these physicans worked very hard to save him and if weren't for them, he wouldn't be with me today.

**pollypurebred39** · 09-08-2009, 11:55 PM

Pay your debt.

They treated your husband in good faith, not requiring payment before treatment. It's your obligation to not only them but yourself to have adherence of rectitude.

**Palooka** · 09-09-2009, 01:55 AM

Originally Posted by pollypurebred39

Pay your debt.

They treated your husband in good faith, not requiring payment before treatment. It's your obligation to not only them but yourself to have adherence of rectitude.

Not to nit pick, but by law they have to treat you. Not everyone's situations is so black and white or cut and dry. The op really did not give much detail.

**kattails** · 09-09-2009, 07:59 AM

thanks for those who gave their opinion and for those who like to judge remember only God can judge a person. we are not skipping out on the debt, but if you only have "x" amount of money and need "y" to have it paid for then it does make it kinda hard to deal with it all. especially when you have bill collectors that would rather harass you than work with you and think that you have money falling out of your behind.

**Greebo** · 09-09-2009, 08:48 AM

Take a close look at the information that you presented and the question you asked. Pretend you are reading the question as if it weren't you who were asking it.

You asked a very situation specific question without giving situational details. You asked whether it was better to pay a debt or let it disappear. You didn't provide any information about your current finances, the history behind the debt, etc.

None of us are mind readers. We have to take what is presented on face value.

You should note, several of us said that if you have the money, you are obligated to pay the debt. One person who'd been there told you what she went through to pay off hers.

I'm sorry you don't like the answers you're getting, but if you don't give complete information when asking questions like this, you're not going to get good answers, are you?

So try not to get into defensive mode, ok? Nobody is judging you - not yet anyway - because we just don't have enough information to do so. I bet if you gave us a full, honest picture of your situation, you'd find yourself getting a wealth of useful advice instead of the "one size fits most" answers that you got.

**savvy_sniper** · 09-09-2009, 09:50 AM

You said it is a small amount of debt. I would start making payments and get them out of the way. You will sleep better at night. Then going forward pay ALL of your bills on time and your credit rating will improve.

**pollypurebred39** · 09-10-2009, 10:19 AM

Better strong words of advice from a friend (and I believe we all here on Frugal Village are friends, or at the very least have each others best interest at heart) Then sickeningly honey sweet ones from an enemy.

When I first started posting here on Frugal Village I had been given some very strong words of advice given to me by many, Greebo included. It was the best advice I've ever gotten concerning finances and I'm truly thankful for my friends here who laid it on the line. We now have 4 credit cards down (3 being small & 1 large) and are closing in on our 2nd big one (with many more big ones to go) Which by the way are medical debt for our son. Has it been easy, heck no. Are the phone calls pouring in daily, yep! you bet. My husband has been without his regular job for 2 years now and is delivering pizza (which does not really pay as well as it does in some areas. Many a night my husband has come home with less then $6 in tips after pulling a double) and doing odd jobs to keep us BARELY afloat. That said, as each day passes and with each credit card down we've developed a sense of well being knowing that we are doing this ourselves without ducking out on our debt. My words were ones of counsel, and not meant with malice or judgement. So with that I apologize if you felt that I was in judgement, that was NEVER my intention.

**Nishu** · 09-11-2009, 12:17 AM

Do you have enough to pay them off right now? I would not make payments, I'd wait until you have enough to pay a bill in full before you pay each bill. I would not restart the ticker on this debt just to give yourself a warm fuzzy over fulfilling your obligations.

It's possible that these debts have been sold to a third party collector. If that's the case, the medical establishment he went to has already profited from your husband's debt as much as it possibly can. It would also mean that you can't actually pay the doctor that treated him, you would have to pay whatever debt buyer/collections company that bought up his debt. Obviously, paying the bill at this point would be a nice surprise for whoever bought the debt but would not benefit the doc. I don't know how to tell if this is the case aside from calling them. If they tell you that you have to settle the debt with "So and so collections", that's a pretty good indication that it has been sold. I'm not saying you shouldn't pay it, I'm just giving you this information for the sake of full disclosure.

If the debt is still in the hands of the original establishment, they should be able to reinstate your husbands account and clear it even if the debt has been written off. I don't really see a point to keeping the account open after it drops off the credit report though. These are very old debts, and it would be pointless for the hospital to keep the account on the books after that point.

So, I think the short answer is the best you can hope for is to let the debts drop off as they will. I do think you should make every effort to pay them, but I would pay them off only if you can pay them off in whole. Paying the bills is going to make no difference to his credit. If you start paying and then stop, it can hurt his credit. If they fall off his report and the hospital or doctor still has an account for him open that you can pay on, then I would pay when you can.