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I'm considering bankruptcy.  It's certainly something I thought I'd never, ever do.  I've always tried to be very careful about  money,  have a great credit score.  But, I'm draining my savings account trying to pay off medical bills.  I'm officially paying more than I am bringing in now.

I racked up a lot when I kept going to a hospital who continuously treated me with pain meds and prednisone.  As soon as I would begin tapering off prednisone,  I would wind up terribly sick,  and in the ER, they would then admit me to the hospital.  Each ER visit was $1,000 co-pay.  Sometimes I was able to pay them,  and other times I had to add to my budget plan.  As I accrued more debt,  the budget payments increased.  Due to being so ill,  I was calling off work sick a lot,  which meant less money was being brought in to pay for the bills  

I was so sick of the awful cycle of drugs/flares that I finally went to a different hospital,  and they were wonderful.  I needed surgery,  but have now been feeling better for over a year.  When this hospital was taking such good care of me,  I sometimes found myself in a situation where I could only pay bills from one hospital... and although I had owed the first hospital longer,  I felt the need to pay the hospital that was helping me first. 

The first hospital has been really inconsistent about sending me budget payment bills,  so on the months that they don't send a bill...  I don't  pay them.  Its usually partly because I have so much to pay that without any notification that my payment is due,  I completely forget.  

(I have to continue in another post,  exceeded max characters)

 Reply posted for NeverEnding.

Im so sorry to hear that you are going through all of this.  I also agree that you should keep your dog I would never give up my dog either. 

So I have a couple of suggestions that may help you.  I am also on a limited budget and I have recently gotten into couponing.  I have also found coupons for dog food, this has helped my food costs lot!  

As far as medications are concerned there are many drug companies that will actually reduce your cost or copays but you have to get in touch with them your self. 

I have also looked into www.needymeds.org another source for your medication costs.  

I hope this can somewhat help you and please don't give up.  It is hard but manegable. 

 Reply posted for NeverEnding.

This is my thought.  Most of the time, hospitals do not charge interest.  Your credit rating will take a ding if the bill goes to collections.  I would find out if interest is being charged or not.  If not, I wouldn't try to make an entire payment, I would make a partial payment, paying what you can, that should keep you out of collections.  I find that if I just talked to the hospital, they had so many people not paying that they were more than willing to work with me to get money from someone.  I would keep the dog but I would also keep a manageable budget.  You sound like someone who hates having bills but this is probably a bill that is going to be long in recovering from.  If you try to pay it all, you will put yourself in a worse position than you already are.  A hospital is not going to refuse you care just because you have not given a full payment, unless it is totally private, they have to treat you.

 Reply posted for NeverEnding.


This week I found out that the first hospital has now sent a portion (about 10%)  of what is still owed to a collection agency.  I was pretty sure that I lumped all of my bills into the budget plan,  but as sick as I was feeling,  it wouldn't surprise me if I was in the hospital,  and hadn't received the bill and had the money on time... but it also would have been over a year ago when I would have received any kind of bill for it... so that seems like an awfully long time for them to sit on something before sending it to collections.

According to the hospital I make too much money to qualify for financial assistance.  A year ago,  I could have paid them,  but then would not have had the money that I saved... and since have used to pay off bills,  and pay my mortgage while I was in the hospital.  It was good that I didn't... because there were months that I would not have been able to pay the mortgage without using what I had saved because I was missing work while in the hospital.  As soon as I was out of the hospital,  I would work as many hours as I could to try to make up for it until I was in the hospital again.

It seems so unfair that just to get treated for an illness I have to give up every last penny in my name.  I don't ever get to just go clothes shopping, or to the movies, or out to eat, or go on vacation,  or do anything entertainment wise that costs money,  because I literally have only enough money to cover my bills. Heck,  I can't even spend $100/month on groceries without going over budget.   The only "extra"  I have is my dog,  and I won't give him up for anything.  I don't know if I can emotionally deal with Crohn's without that big lug.