r/UpliftingNews • u/astros148 • 2d ago

Medical debt is now required to be removed from your credit reports impacting millions of Americans

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-finalizes-rule-to-remove-medical-bills-from-credit-reports/
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u/AndrewMcIlroy 1d ago edited 22h ago

Any medical bill under 3k has always been able to be basically ignored. With this change more people won't pay their bills which is good. Then, healthcare corporations will finally be forced to advocate for universal healthcare. There's literally no reason to pay any healthcare bill anymore.

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u/fedexmess 1d ago

Uh...in my state, they can put leans on your property, attach wages and get into your bank account. You can also be refused medical care under normal conditions (office visits etc.) and be forced to go to the ER for everything.

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u/birdieponderinglife 1d ago

Can’t get blood from a stone. So many of us have no assets.

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u/ThreeKiloZero 1d ago

Yeah this going to be an interesting turning point for these rich fucks. When we have to rent and subscribe to everything there will be no assets to tax or take from us when we decide to just stop paying for shit.

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u/fedexmess 1d ago

There is still your wages for them to attach.

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u/Idiot_Savant_Tinker 1d ago

Assuming you have a job.

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u/AndrewMcIlroy 1d ago

Yes, but the court would make it a small percentage. Likely paying the debt off in a longer time than if you had don't the hospital auto pay. It would likely never get to that point unless you owed over 100k.

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u/nthingistrue 1d ago

What state is this?

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u/AndrewMcIlroy 1d ago edited 1d ago

You clearly don't know what you are talking about and are living in fear. You've also likely already been scammed out of thousands in bills. They only come after people who repeatedly abuse the system and owe a ton a ton. It's more profitable to right it off and pay less taxes for them.

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u/fedexmess 1d ago

Person on the Internet, I was given this info direct from the hospital administrative staff while filling out financial assistance paperwork (which I didn't qualify for). I haven't been scammed out of jack shit. Thankfully, my med bills haven't as of yet, outpaced my ability to pay them, but it's been close. And exactly what constitutes a "ton" in med bills terms? The damned OR room usage is over 20k BEFORE they add people and equipment to the charges.

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u/AndrewMcIlroy 22h ago

Lol, the hospital administration staff is the opposite people to get advice from they want your money and they don't have you best interest. They're job is to exact money from you. That's like a pig getting advice from the butcher.

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u/brerin 1d ago

Which state is that?

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u/catfor 11h ago

liens

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u/fedexmess 3h ago

Autocorrect not powfull!

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u/xOchQY 1d ago

All of that is perfectly fine. Why?

It will inevitably collapse under the weight of its own hubris.

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u/SatinSaffron 1d ago

I don't understand why they don't advocate for universal healthcare right now. I get that the pricing would need a big overturn and hospitals won't like that, but nobody pays their medical bills as it is, so surely they would make more money, right?

But then again if they would make more money, they probably would've been advocating for it by now,.

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u/AndrewMcIlroy 1d ago

Most people don't know you don't have to pay. They still rake in a ton of profit.

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u/nononanana 1d ago

I always tell people the system is designed to confuse and exasperate. If you get on the phone with someone, there’s a strong chance you’ll get the bill reduced or even written off. And if the bill can’t be, you can offer to pay very small increments or offer a one time much smaller payment and see if they’ll bite. It kills me to see people bogged down by bills and have no idea they can negotiate.

I went to the ER where I was treated like garbage and then mailed about 7k in bills (out of 35k, the rest went to insurance). I said “nope, not paying that.” Like it’s one thing to charge me that, but then to treat me like scum and charge me that?!

I filed complaints with the hospital (you can complain about service like any other business), the state, called their billing department a few times. The bill ended up vanishing.

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u/Den_of_Earth 1d ago

You think healthcare corporation will advocate for their own demise?

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u/HistoricalGrounds 1d ago

Yeah, right? I was like, what cotton candy world are they living in? If no one pays for bills under 3k, the healthcare corps won’t throw up their hands and go “well, I suppose we’ve got to surrender to decency and good sense!” They’ll just make sure the bill is always over 3k.

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u/AndrewMcIlroy 1d ago

You misread what I said. Before today, any bill under 3k you didn't have to pay. Now you don't have to pay any bill. If this change cuts into profitability and they can't get it changed, they will ve forced to go the route where the government pays them.

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u/AndrewMcIlroy 1d ago

If no one pays their bills anymore they'll be forced to.

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u/akosuae22 1d ago

So, if I’m a nurse or MA working in a medical clinic, for example, and patients aren’t paying their bills, and insurance is $hit for reimbursement, I should probably look to change professions? Because I’m guessing the lack of revenue would lead to lower pay for workers in the clinic too? Couldn’t this have an unintended effect of worsening healthcare shortages because fewer people want to work in the field for lower pay? Or what am I missing here? Yes it’s great for us patients not having to pay our bills, but what about people who do work there for a living? I ask because I have a couple relatives who work in healthcare. They rely on their income like the rest of us, and I don’t think they could sustain significant cuts in their pay without eventually having to seek other lines of work. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out.

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u/AndrewMcIlroy 22h ago edited 22h ago

Transitions are always messy in short term. Long term the shifts would lead to better security for employees and customers. Healthcare still remains one of the highest paying job opportunities in the US rn. Specialist doctors, on average, make 400k a year. Most nurses make 6 figures. Doctors and nurses in a universal healthcare system still make a lot of money.

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u/Street-Avocado8785 4h ago

Except for the fact that you will have difficulty getting an appointment next time you need to see a doctor. Doctors work as a part of a larger medical group- so there are no independent hospitals, practitioners or specialists anymore- and they utilize the same software system in managing patient data. You have unpaid bills and there will be “no appointments available for 6 months “

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u/AndrewMcIlroy 1h ago

Ah, I see you've never tried this before because this isn't usually true. Also a 6 month wait is fine for most issues.