In this era, few things are so expensive and medical expenses are one of them. It is going to be more and more expensive day by day. And a lot of people face problems while paying bills due to lack of money or several other problems. But it is also important to repay the medical bills on time otherwise someone has to go through some severe problems that can affect his or her financial stability. Nobody knows what is going to happen next, it would be very hard to predict the future and that’s why whenever people face some uncertain problems like a medical emergency, they find it difficult while dealing with those problems. Lets see the Consequences Of Not Paying Medical Bills.
Let’s Have A Look At The Reasons Behind Not Being Able To Pay Medical Bills On Time
There might be a lot of reasons out there that someone is not able to pay their medical bills on time and such things scare us. Once, a research was conducted in America based on how many people face difficulty while paying their medical bills and the outcome of that research scared many, almost 137 million people struggling to pay their medical debts was found! It shows that people do not take their health seriously, they neither save money for their future nor have health insurance, and because of their lack of financial knowledge, they end up having a huge amount of medical debt on themselves. These things are important to take care of. Sometimes, people have no money for an unexpected incident because they haven’t saved it, but it doesn’t mean they will not take the treatment, at that moment people do not think about whether they can pay the bills or not! The only priority that they have on their mind is to get the treatment at any cost.
The Consequences That Someone Has To Go Through If After Not Being Able To Pay The Medical Bills On Time
If you are looking for the consequences of not paying medical bills on time, you have come to the right place. Here you are going to see most likely consequences.
Increase The Interest Rates:
For any reason, if someone is unable to pay the medical bills on time, it would increase the interest rate on the medical debt the person has taken. The more delay someone will make to repay the debt, the more interest rate that person has to pay, so make sure you are paying your medical bills on time.
Get Phone Calls:
Once the time for paying medical bills is over, the person will start receiving tons of phone calls from the provider or the medical staff. Whether you can pay the bills or not!, they will not think about that, they will continue to call you and disturb you. Sometimes you might get some threatening phone calls as well.
Credit Score Go Down:
If someone has not paid medical bills on time, then it will affect that person’s credit score. After a certain period, your medical bill lender will inform the credit bureaus such as Experian, CRIF High Mark, Equifax, and CIBIL who set a credit score for you whether you have a credit card or not. And it will have an impact on the interest rates whenever that person will apply for a loan. The less someone’s credit score, the higher the interest rates he or she will get. That’s why it is beneficial to have a good credit score.
A Legal Notice:
If still someone hasn’t paid the medical bills, then some legal action can be taken from the provider’s side. And it is legal to take such action from the medical bill provider’s perspective. They can sue you in court, someone doesn’t have to be surprised if such things happen to them. And then, the court will decide the punishment. Most of the time, the punishment is wage garnishment. Wage garnishment is a process where a certain amount of money will be deducted from your account each month until the debts get paid. Some people might have doubts, what if they have to go to jail after not being able to pay their medical debts, so, do not have to worry about that. You will not have to go to jail but make sure you will not break the court’s orders. If you don’t follow the rules, then you might have to go to jail.
Conclusion:
As you have seen throughout this article, the consequences of not paying the medical bills on time, and understanding the reasons behind not being able to pay the bills on time. That’s why it is very important to have insurance (at least life and health), so you wouldn’t have to go through such scary situations. People have this mindset that why they should pay the premium for insurance, for the upcoming uncertainties that have not happened already, what if nothing would happen to our health! Then nothing can be better than that, but with the kind of environment you live in, you cannot predict the future, so it is important to have a backup. In this article, you have understood the consequences of not paying medical debts and this should help you to make better decisions the future.
