I was admitted to hospital in June for appendectomy. I'm on opt so I bought the hccmis by Tokio marine and they haven't pay a single cent till today Jan 27. One of the provider has send my bill to collection agency. What do I do? I can't afford to pay.
You can try to work with the hospital and negotiate it down to an amount that you can pay. Medical bills are usually inflated due to insurance, the hospital might be willing to reduce the bill if they expect some money back from you.
I have heard of cases where the hospital reduced the bill to as low as 25% of the original amount once they knew that the insurance company is not covering it.
Before I do that, should I wait till insurance finalize with their decision to pay? Because I check it's all still pending.
If it went to collection, doesn’t it mean that the insurance already declined to pay?
Nope the insurance is still pending. One of the anesthesia provider so impatient but it's reasonable since it has been so long.
I would talk to the hospital and insurance company to hear what’s going on and then try to close it soon. Missed payment to collection would significantly impact your credit history.
Is credit important? Because all I ever use it for is to apply for credit card
What did your University say?
The insurance is outside of school.
When you're on OPT, you're still on University insurance. If you're working, what about your employer provided insurance? I sure as hell hope you have some sort of insurance cover. If not try looking at financial assistance or forgiveness offered by the hospital. See this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/3p3609/i_negotiated_a_12000_hospital_bill_to_1500/
Pay it with a loan. And then leetcode harder, get a job in FANG and ask the company to give you this 40k as sign on(explain the situation) otherwise you cannot join. I think mine has a long term good effect as well. Also people need external matter to gain motivation( although i think at your age you should have already learned self motivation) Learn to act proactively, don’t just react
No. This is terrible advice.
1) do NOT pay collections agents without a proper "pay to delete" written agreement that stipulates your payment forces the collection agency to DELETE the collection notice on your credit history. 2) do NOT pay medical bills that have not been fully settled by insurance after exhausting all appeals 3) do NOT pay medical bills that have been settled by insurance and declined, but have NOT been negotiated to ~10% of the total billed balance, especially if they're in collections. For example a $50,000 hospital bill that results in $10-15,000 insurance payment will be sold to a debt collector for $1,800. You negotiate for a $5,000 payment, debt collector gets $3,200 in profit for their troubles and you save $45,000 off "billing price."* This example presumes the debt is sold to a less reputable collector that can negotiate freely. Collectors will tell you anything to get your money. Get them on the record in every way (voice, email, etc) making the agreement for pay to delete official, because once they get your money, they won't do a damn thing for you.
Bankruptcy?
Well I don't think I need that since this is not my home country
This is why America is a fucked up country. Why is your insurance not covering?
I just checked, the insurance just denied all my claims. They say lack of response from providers, the insurance themselves are avoiding the providers and lack of medical records, funny I sent them everything in timely manner, I have record to prove.
Pay nothing to anyone besides maybe a lawyer. File a complaint with your state's regulator and let it wind it's way through bureaucracy and legal challenges before final liability is determined. You shouldn't need to pay much to have a lawyer navigate such a situation since the other parties will end up having to do the work to appease the regulator.
Run away to home country
Well not sure that works but I am still here working opt stem. My concern is if they will go to court and take from my salary or my bank account?