Are Medical Bills Drowning You in Debt?

When you have arthritis, medical expenses can be costly.  Paying for rheumatology visits and procedures, lab work, prescriptions, surgery, physical therapy, etc., can be an enormous task and that is just for your arthritis.  We know that if you have arthritis, you are at risk for other conditions and being more susceptible to becoming sick if you are taking an immunosuppresant drug.  So what do you when you are drowning in debt from your medical bills and finding it difficult or next to impossible to pay them off?

eHow has some great suggestions you should go through first.  Some of their suggestions are that you should detail review your bills, hire an expert if necessary to analyze your medical bills, and even ask the medical provider(s) to reduce your balance.  For more details and suggestions, see eHow’s “How to get help paying medical bills debt“.

If you find that some of your expenses should have been covered under your health insurance policy, but your health insurance provider refuses to cover it, there is something you can do.  Contact your health insurance provider first.  If contacting your health insurance provider via telephone gets you nowhere, then write a letter to them indicating why you believe the charges should be covered under your benefits coverage.  If the situation still remains unresolved, then contact your state insurance board.  Document all of your efforts in writing to the state insurance board including why you believe the health insurance provider should be honoring your benefits coverage (i.e. your benefits coverage indicates…).  Note in your letter that you are copying the letter to the insurance company and make sure you send a copy to the insurance company.  You should hear back from both organizations fairly quickly. 

If you were incorrect in what you thought your benefits were, then you will still be responsible for the bill.  If you were correct and the insurance provider should have covered some of your medical expenses, then you should receive an adjusted bill from them after the state insurance board is involved. 

If you decide to contact a debt service to help you manage the overwhelming bills, then please beware.  Not all debt assistance companies are reputable.  Make sure you check them out with the Better Business Bureau and RipOffReport before doing business with them.

After you have a plan of how you are going to resolve your medical debt, then you should write to your Congressional representatives.  Be brutally honest with them and let them know how you struggle to pay for your medical expenses.  Let them know that you have arthritis and how the disease affects you financially.  Our Congressional representatives are our advocates.  They can only help you if they know what you are going through.  The more people that contact them, the more they will be willing to listen to and act on health insurance reform, change income tax regulations as it relates to medical expense deductions, and vote for more arthritis research funding.

Mounting medical bills can be very stressful.  Take a look at all of your options to reduce your bills, then decide on which options are best for you.  Just remember, that whatever you decide to do, you must keep your providers in the loop as to what you are doing before collectors come knocking!

Good luck!