People can save money on medical bills without cutting corners
When it comes to some of the biggest expenses people face in their lives, medical costs may be chief among them. That's because they're necessary and often huge, and people may feel as though they have little choice - whether they have health insurance or not - but to simply bear the potentially thousands of dollars in payments. But in many instances, that doesn't have to actually be the case.
What millions of Americans who face huge medical bills may not know is that they might have some wiggle room to negotiate some of their medical bills down to slightly more affordable levels, according to a report from Tulsa, Oklahoma, television station WOTV. The fact of the matter is that many hospitals and other care providers are very worried about having people simply default on their medical bills altogether and simply take the hit on their credit score, rather than pay potentially tens of thousands of dollars.
Why is this a good idea?
As a result, they're often more amenable to taking smaller lump-sum payments, or a lot of small payments over time, rather than lose that money altogether, the report said. Many people don't know this is an option to them, and still more might be a little embarrassed about not being able to pay their bills. But experts say that embarrassment should probably be worth a few thousand dollars to them, and moreover it shouldn't be embarrassing to not be able to pay large amounts to care providers for a medical issue a person might not have seen coming.
"Let them know exactly where you are, what your situation is, and begin to communicate what you can do about it," financial expert Chris Hogan told the station. "Don't let them tell you what you have to pay, pay what you can. A lot of times, they'll throw out things just talking with you to try to find out how much money can you get your hands on at this point in time, so slow down, if they won't put it in writing, it's not real."
The more people can do to save themselves money in any facet of their lives, the better off they're likely to be when it comes to having financial freedom. They might even be able to contribute some of the money they cut from their budgets toward building their savings accounts or reducing their credit card debts going forward.