5 Ways to Pay Down Medical Debt

Medical debt is one of the reasons why Americans file for bankruptcy. Every year many Americans file for bankruptcy due to medical debt. In 2008, 46 million Americans did not have any health insurance coverage.

Many people are uninsured due to the high costs of medical coverage. Many employers only pay a small portion of healthcare costs leaving the remaining expense for the employee. It is expected that 1.4 million Americans will file for bankruptcy this year, and some will be due to medical debt.

Health care costs continue to increase each year. According to the National Coalition on Health Care, in 2008, total health care costs increased approximately 6.0% - almost twice the rate of inflation. In 2008, employer health insurance premiums increased by 5.0%. The annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four averaged nearly $12,700 versus $4,700 for individual coverage. Retiring elderly couples will need $250,000 in savings just to pay for the most basic medical coverage.

Many Americans file bankruptcy for various reasons such as job loss, illness, death of a loved one, disability, loss of coverage, divorce, and the additional medical fees associated with health care coverage such as co-payments, deductibles, prescription costs, COBRA costs, etc.

The problem is the lack of mandated regulations in the health care industry, industry fraud and billing errors. Health insurance companies over charge patients fees for services and if you do not have health insurance coverage you might as well sign over your child to pay for the medical costs because when you don't have insurance you can basically be charged whatever fee the doctor or hospital chooses. When you have health insurance you can only be charged a certain amount for services.

We claim to be the most powerful country in the world yet we are the sickest developed country in the world. We have the highest incidents of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks, stroke, and cancer.

We should demand that full health insurance coverage is provided to all Americans no matter what their income or lack of income. You should not get better treatment or additional services simply because you have a higher income or can afford better coverage. Every human life should be valued but based on our health insurance industry it is not. We must fight back and force Congress to develop better laws to improve our health care industry and provide insurance for all Americans because we deserve it. Here are 5 Ways to Pay Down Medical Debt

1. Ask for an itemized list of all services to ensure you are not being charged more than once for services you received
2. If you had health insurance at the time of service, verify which charges are covered under your insurance
3. Negotiate with the service provider (doctor or hospital) to get fees reduced or eliminated in exchange for paying the debt
4. Setup a payment plan with the service provider to pay down the debt
5. Adjust spending to gain extra money to pay towards the medical debt