Medical Bills:
Many people become sick or have an accident and are not only unable to work but are also accumulating medical costs. In less then a month this can become a very serious problem. Because of the medical bills a person might not be able to pay other basic bills like paying for rent, paying for the car, and paying for food. Paying rent becomes one of the first problems because rent is usually the largets bill a person would have. If you do not have money to pay rent because of medical bills then read further for some helpful tips.There are some things you can do to maybe ease the pressure associated with medical bills. We can provide a small bit of information to help you get back on your feet after a medical problem has taken place. It can seem like there is not a light at the end of the tunnel but there are places that can help.
First, if you don’t have health insurance, you should get it right away. If you don’t have insurance and have just started dealing with medical bills you should talk to the hospital and see if they can help you finance the costs. Some hospitals will work with you and help you build a payment plan so that you can pay your bills over time and not be forced to pay the bill all at once. There are even some hospitals that, depending on your situation, will wave the bills completely. If you are not able to work out a payment plan with the hospital or not able to get the fees waved then you are going to have to deal with your medical bills.
One thing you should do is consolidate your medical bills. Consolidating your medical bills can lower the interest rates on your bills. This can save you thousands and thousands of dollars over time. Also, consolidating your medical bills helps you keep on track with your payments. Just like consolidating credit card debt. If you miss a payment on a couple credit card payments you could lose $100+ in late fees. But if you only have one bill to pay a month you are less likely to miss the payment. Also, there is less of a likelihood that you will forget about one of your bills and that could cause it to go to collections. Consolidating your medical bills is the first step to managing your finances.
Once you have your medical bills consolidated you need to start paying them. There are many local government programs that can help you with other costs which should leave you with a little extra money to pay medical bills. These programs include food stamps(come on a fancy debit card these days), US Department of Housing, Salvation Army and more. You need to look around in your area for these types of programs. In most cases these programs will help you with food and other costs. Take advantage.
Church is another great place to look for help. Most churches are more then willing to help you a little. Check in with the people at your church and see if there is anything they can do for you. Also, check out other churches. I know there are many churches that have nights where they will make large meals for anyone that wants to come and eat. If you were able to eat at these churches even just a few times a week that could save you hundreds. That’s money that you can be using to pay your medical bills. Churches can really help. Let them help you.
Downgrade your lifestyle. Many people live a very normal lifestyle but if you have large medical bills that are getting larger you need to maybe think about tightening up the budget. This would include things like being sure to eat at home as often as you can. If you drink coffee, make it at home. Pack lunches rather then eating out. Also, if you commute to work you might want to try and carpool. There are some very simple things you can do to make daily life cheaper. Practice this as often as you can and watch the savings pile up!
Ask friends and family. This can be tough but friends and family are the people that care about you most. Let them know you are in need. If you are doing everything you can and its still not enough then family should be there to help. If you are not doing everything you can and you still ask for help you can expect people to just say no. But if you can show people that you are working on managing your medical bills and you are able to point out exactly where you need help, people are more likely to respond positively.
These were some general tips we have for those of you with medical bills. Here is a list of resources we found:
Gov Financial Assistance:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/financialassistance.html
Cheap Healthcare:
http://kidshealth.org/teen/sexual_health/stds/lcost_medcare.html
Benefits for people with disabilities:
http://www.ssa.gov/disability/
