My parents are getting older and I’ve had to pick up more of their medical bills. What can I do to lighten my financial load?

Posts Tagged ‘Health care’

My parents are getting older and I’ve had to pick up more of their medical bills. What can I do to lighten my financial load?

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Q: My parents are getting older, and while they don’t live with me, I’ve had to pick up more of their medical bills as their health declines. What can I do to lighten my financial load?

A: First, know you’re not alone. A study from AgingCare found that while an estimated 34 million adults provide care for elderly family members, 63 percent of them don’t have a game plan for paying their aging parents’ bills. Instead, most caregivers wind up dipping into their own pockets for their parents’ prescription drugs and nursing expenses.

One way to lessen your financial burden is by taking advantage of federal and state aid. Make sure your parents are getting all the senior citizen benefits they’re entitled to by logging on to BenefitsCheckup.org, a service of The National Council on Aging. The site allows you to find and apply for government and private programs that help pay for expenses including health-care bills. For local resources, check with the Eldercare Locator service and the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging.

One final note: Many employers offer dependent-care flexible spending accounts (which allows one to pay for a dependent’s expenses with pretax dollars), but you can only take advantage of it if your parents live with you at least half of each year that you claim them as a dependent.

Free online edition of Zero Debt for a limited time! (askthemoneycoach.com)
Vital Signs: Five tips for hiring a home health aide (marketwatch.com)
Flexible Spending Accounts About to Get Less Flexible (askthemoneycoach.com)
4 Ways Healthcare Reform Will Affect Your FSA (askamoneyexpert.com)

Where can I get a list of agencies that can help me pay my medical bills?

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Author: The Money Coach

It will take multiple steps to help you eliminate your medical debt. But here are six strategies you can use to knock down those hospital bills and improve your credit rating.

Examine Everything

Start by going over all your medical bills with a fine-tooth comb. Question charges that seem inflated (like that $20 bottle of aspirin). Also, ask for explanations from your healthcare providers regarding invoices for services you don’t recognize or understand. Simply forcing them to account for everything may result is certain charges being waived or reduced.

Find Out About State Freebies

Lots of states offer their residents free mandatory coverage or health insurance with small co-pays and low deductibles. If any of your treatment should have been covered by a state program, see if state resources can fill the gap and pay what you’ve been charged.

Ask Directly for Discounts

Ask the hospitals, clinics and healthcare professionals that serviced you whether or not you qualify for any discounts, charity, or write-downs of your total bill outstanding. Don’t be ashamed to let the hospital(s) know about your entire financial predicament. They may be more lenient if they know that you’re not working, are not insured, have lots of other debts, are a single mom, etc.

Request a Payment Plan

If you can talk to a kindly, flexible billing representative/hospital administrator, or even better, the doctor(s) who treated you, ask if you can get on a payment plan. Try to stretch out the plan for as long as reasonable in order to give yourself time to pay off all that you owe. If they agree to discount $2,000 of your original $5,000 in bills, then you’ll have $3,000 remaining to pay off over time. If you can commit to pay that off in two years, that means you’ll have to pay $125 a month ($3,000 divided by 24 months).

Negotiate to Improve Your Credit Rating

Also, while you are negotiating, request upfront that the hospital agree to delete all negative references to your credit files. They may only do it once you’ve completed your repayment plan. But that’s better than letting the late payment or collection information sit on your credit reports for seven years. Get any agreements in writing.

Get a Medical Advocate

Don’t give up on negotiating down that medical debt, or to improve your credit standing. Sometimes you have to go to multiple people or write numerous letters. But it will be worth it in the end if you can rid yourself of thousands of dollars of medical bills. If your own efforts don’t get you anywhere, get help from a third party, such as Access Project (http://www.accessproject.org) or Medical Bill Advocates (http://www.billadvocates.com). For those with hefty hospital bills, The Access Project’s Medical Debt Resolution Program can guide you through the maze of negotiating with insurance companies, medical providers and public programs to resolve your medical debt.

How to Handle Overdue Hospital Bills (ybpguide.com)
Can I get a medical collection removed from my credit report? (askamoneyexpert.com)

Ask The Money Coach

Posts Tagged ‘Health care’