Medical and Psychiatric Billing Mess

Mark 5:26 - She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.

• You’re in pain physically and you need to see your doctor.

• You’re in pain emotionally and you need to see your therapist.

 

• You’re in need of treatments for your disease or depression.

 
But sometimes you can’t get the help you need.
 
It’s one thing to become stressed when battling chronic health issues or emotional pain, but it’s another thing to battle the billing mess you face when seeing your care provider.
 
Perhaps you thought that you were covered, because you have a primary and supplementary insurance. But even with this you battle a billing mess because, like my mother, you have to pay hundreds and sometimes over a thousand dollars every quarter to your insurance company, not to mention your deductable.
 
So here you are. You need to make an appointment with your health provider, but if you do the bills, with all the stress they carry with them, sometimes blocks you from making that appointment.
 
What do we do?
 
Do we go to the doctor or therapist regardless of the bills stacking up? Or do we try to “suck it up,” and pretend you’re okay and stay home?
 
First, you may not be aware that if you have a low enough income you may qualify for extra help such as Medicaid.
 
Second, sometimes your doctor or hospital has programs where they may be willing to cover the costs for you, or at least they may work with you on a payment plan.
 
Third, in regards to the option above, most hospitals state that they will not turn away anyone who is in emergent need for treatment regardless of their ability to pay for the services.
 
Here are some other ideas on how to pay for medical bills from creditkarma.com in their article, “Planning to Pay Medical Debt With a Credit Card? Weigh Your Options First.” The article tells us that everything is negotiable and make sure you have accurate billing. You don’t want to be paying for a service or medical supply that you didn’t get.
 
Another great resource is from moneyunder30.com’s article, “What to do When You Get Medical Bills You Can’t Afford,” includes suggestions on how to deal with collection agencies.
 
There should never be a block to receiving medical care because you can’t afford it. But that’s not how it is. And even when you can afford it at first, you can become like the woman in the Bible verse above who spent everything she had on doctors. This calls for wisdom and that wisdom can come through God in any of the suggestions in the articles above. He can take your need and provide the opportunity to receive care without it becoming a billing mess.

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