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I Was Injured Lounging at the Hotel Pool and Can’t Afford the Medical Bills

Question: Dear Steve, Scores in mid to upper 600’s needs improvement. Cannot afford negative marks on credit report. Injured lounging hotel poolside. resulted in one ER visit resulted in 3 bills. hotel dragging feet, deny liability and now claims payment delayed because I don’t have most recent bills. anyway. the largest of the three was …

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Are These Credit Card Debt Relief Offers Real?

Question: Dear Steve, I have a large over $50K in credit card debt. Most was racked up during an injury. I get debt solution letters daily promising help. Are any of these “debt relief” companies real? Brian Answer: Dear Brian, It’s amazing how such an innocent question can be so complicated to answer. The offers …

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I Can’t Afford My Credit Card Debt and My Medications

Question: Dear Steve, I am a 60 year old divorced male-living on social security disability-children are grown and on their own- lost 50% of life savings waiting between heart attack on 3/1/2015 and disability starting in 9/18/2015. Just started medicare this month and paying for doctor’s visits, prescriptions and blood work-medicare is 134 monthly withdrawal …

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Medical Debt Leads to Bankruptcy, Collection Calls, Debt You Don’t Owe and Credit Report Errors

A leading consumer group, OSPIRG, released the ninth in a series of reports that review complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The latest report explores consumer complaints about medical debt, a major source of problems for consumers, since medical debt items on credit reports are often wrong or about the wrong consumer. The …

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Can a Hospital Go After My Daughter Even if She is Making Some Payment?

Question: Dear Steve, My daughter recently had a stint at hospital leaving her with a $2000.00 co-pay. She is a single mom with a poverty level income. She has been paying $50 a month on this debt. The hospital called her today saying $50 a month wasn’t enough. She said it was all she could …

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Lifesaving Flights Can Come With Life-Changing Bills

Butte is an old mining town, tucked away in the southwest corner of Montana with a population of about 34,000. Locals enjoy many things you can’t find elsewhere — campgrounds a quick drive from downtown and gorgeous mountain ranges nearby. But in Butte, as in much of rural America, advanced medical care is absent. People …

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For Nonprofit Hospitals Who Sue Patients, New Rules

by Paul Kiel ProPublica, Jan. 15, 2015, 10:33 a.m. Last month, ProPublica and NPR detailed how one nonprofit hospital in Missouri sued thousands of lower income workers who couldn’t pay their bills, then seized their wages, all while enjoying a big break on its taxes. Since then, the IRS has released long-awaited rules designed to …

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