Does anyone just not pay?

[John_stashick]

I'm just curious.. Because I live on my own. Have a 13 dollar an hour job. Have a cell phone bill. Pay rent. Eat food. And I barely get by. And this is thousand of dollars I just don't have. Plus I'm getting bills from the hospital, bills from my insurance company, bills from like a combined insurance /hospital colab. And collection places already trying to collect money from visits from this injury. Hopefully they don't repo my hip or put me in jail. Other than that I guess I don't care about my "debt". Cause no matter what I'm still going to get a bunch of random letters saying I owe different amounts. They could probably stop sending so many letter for a year and that would cover everything. Paper isn't cheap and I'm sure somebody is licking the envelopes. I'm i the only one who thinks this way? Would I possibly get denied healthcare if I don't pay?

[evant]

I'm in the UK so I'm not sure what help you can get in the USA.

Here we have the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) - they do many things but also helping people deal with their particular debt problem is a very normal issue for them. The help they provide is free. Perhaps you have something similar.

It's great that you now have a new resurfaced hip and you're out of pain.

Without pain you can think properly.

Seek assistance that's free and trustworthy to help you manage the debt.

You're doing well surviving on your own on a minimum wage.

Good luck.

[hernanu]

Hey John. Maybe part of dealing with it is to talk to the hospital financial people, see what you can work out with them.

The insurance too, maybe talk to a credit counselor (I think there's some that will at least give advice without charge). In many ways (starting with getting OA), this is a situation where the more places you look for advice, the more help you'll find.

I'm not an expert at all, but it seems like there should be some way to start a dialogue with them. As for government health insurance, talk to them too, see if there's any help you could get from that corner.

Good luck, let us know how it works out.