It’s Not Just Those Eye-Popping Medical Bills That Have Collectors Knocking — Small Ones Often Cause Trouble Too
More than half of medical collections are for less than $600, a new study finds. Even though they're not hundreds of thousands of dollars, those unpaid bills, when set to a collection agency, can hurt a patients' credit just as fast.
The Associated Press:
Even A Small Amount Of Medical Debt Can Trigger Headaches
It doesn't take a huge unpaid medical bill to make a collection agency come calling ... and calling. Researchers found in a study of credit reports that more than 2 percent of adults had medical bills under $200 sent to a collection agency. Over half of the annual medical collections were for less than $600, according to the study, which examined 2016 credit reports for more than 4 million unidentified people. (Murphy, 8/29)
Meanwhile, a look at what happened to the patient who got a bill for more than $100,000 after a heart attack —
Kaiser Health News:
Watch: What Happened To That $109,000 Heart Attack
Kaiser Health News editor-in-chief Elisabeth Rosenthal discusses the latest Bill of the Month installment on “CBS This Morning” on Wednesday. The story of a high school teacher who faced an outrageous hospital bill is part of an ongoing crowdsourced investigation by KHN and NPR. (8/29)
Read The Original KHN Story: A Jolt To The Jugular! You’re Insured But Still Owe $109K For Your Heart Attack
