Summons to pay a debt : (

sunkistdrinker

New member
A few years ago, I got sick and had to spend like 10 days in the hospital. The bill was like $20,000+. My insurance is a 90/10 policy. Well, the remainder I was paying off at the rate of $100/mo. until I got sick again and missed alot of work. Anyhow to make a long story short, the hospital attorney sent me a summons this morning to pay the remaining $1700, or further legal action will be taken. Fact of the matter is, I dont have that much money unless I choose not to make a house payment for three months and just send them the payments instead of my morgtage company. How dumb would that be. Any suggestions?
 

EnergyGal

New member
If you make a small payment of ten dollars you will be fine. They just want to see you pay something. I do not think you can get in trouble for a small amount. It shows that you are making an effort. I would call and talk to the financial dept at the hospital and ask them if you they can right it off for you. I would not worry about anything that you can get in the mail. All hospitals will threaten and send you into collections.

edited to add: I know on my end if you call and tell them that you have insurance and that you are unable to pay your bill they will proably right it off. If your insurance paid ninety percent that should be enough for them. Do not let them threaten you into not paying your house payment.
 

coltsfan715

New member
I want to second what Risa said.

My mom does billing in the docs office she works at and has told me on more than one occasion that so long as you make a payment of 5-10 bucks a month it keeps the account active and they can not send you to collections. It is when you stop making payments and the account receives no activity for 3 months or more that they will then turn you to collections.

I would make a smal payment every month and if they continue to harass you about it let them take further legal action. They will look like morons for taking legal action against someone that has been making regular (though small) payments on their bill. They send those letters out to scare people into paying. They are mainly trying to target people that would run away and not pay otherwise.

Lindsey
 
Everytime I get a bill, I say is there any discounts or anything you can give me, and they always give at least 10% if not more. It never hurts to ask, and I have saved tons of money by doing it. They can work with you, it is just a matter of if. And if you don't ask they won't do you any favors.
 

thelizardqueen

New member
I'll repeat what others have said. My ex has a huge amount of debt (he'll kill me for posting this <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"> ), and the creditors have threatened to summon him to pay the whole amount. All he told them was that he would make monthly payments of some sort, and they were fine with that. So long as you are making an effort - they would prefere that.
 

anonymous

New member
Well what gets me is that I have a 90/10 insurance plan. The original amount owed before insurance payed was somewhere in the neighborhood of $25,000. That means my insurance payed $22,250 of the bill. I also have already paid $1300+ towards the remaining balance. I had surgery earlier this year and got behind on my bills a little (medical bills are my only debt aside from house and car payments). I just cannot believe they are coming after me for this little tidbit of pocket change. Sorry if I seem to be rambling, this has just never happened to me before and its getting on my nerves just a little. Thanks for the advice.
 

Jennifer1981

New member
Hi,

I am right now experiencing a very similar situation. I was hospitalized in June and July 2006 for my CF. During those admissions, I accumulated 2,000 in medical bills. This is the amount because I have my husband's insurance. Otherwise, it would be much higher. I am married, on Social Security but not eligible yet for Medicare, and don't qualify for state assistance because "our combined income is too high". Or combined income was only 29,000 with my Social Security. Then when you count copays for OV's and meds plus, rent, utilities, and oil it's much less. I called the state, but they would offer no assistance unless I was already behind with payment more than 90 days - which is TOO LATE ALREADY. So I called the hospital. They had me fill out a form and send a copy of the Federal Tax Return. Since, I was under 30,000, I qualified for "charity adjustment". They wrote off <b>75</b>% of the bill. Try and call the hospital. I'm sure they can do something. I'm married and qualified!! They should definately be able to help you!!

Jenny 24 w/CF
 
Top