24 Medical collections. Best course of action?

[MostlyAwake]

In 2013 I went through a cancer diagnosis and missed 5 months of work, almost died etc etc. I managed to triumphantly pay ALL of my normal bills on time and not miss any payments but had no choice but to let the medical stuff go as having the money was an impossibility and with fragmented medical billing I was getting 5 bills for every 1 thing I had done. Concentrated on staying alive and nothing else.

So now I have 24 medical collections and 0 non medical derogs. 22 of the 24 collections are owned by the same 2 CAs with a 3rd CA owning the 2 remaining accounts.

How should I proceed? I know it will be easier to work with the CAs since theres only 3 of them instead of 20 but I didn't know how to approach initiating pfd arrangements for that many accounts.

I have the money to pay them in full but would obviously like them reduced as a sort of rebate for having not asked for cancer. Had it been legit debt from irresponsibility I would simply pay them.

[Anonymous]

First and formost, glad you pulled through and hope the best for you and your health!

[MostlyAwake]

Should I contact the original owner of the debt and try for a pfd or try the CAs?

From what I have gathered, the CAs are likely only going to offer a PIF with confirmation letter which does nothing for me credit wise.

And thanks for the kind words. I'm not out of the woods yet but it's going well.

[Anonymous]

I don't have any advice as I am going through nearly the same thing.  I would like to follow and see what advice you gather.

Glad to hear you're doing well.  I wish you nothing but the best!  

[azguy13]

The first thing I wish to say is that I am extremely happy that you are doing well. My wife has been going through treatments for AML on and off for a little over 2 years now so I can understand how stressful things can be. 

Since you have 24 medical collections, this is the best advice I can give you (I do not normally bring this up). Go to whichever search engine you use and look up the "medical collections HIPPA process." It is not something that can be discussed on this forum any further than this and I generally never bring it up, but due to your circumstances I am breaking my own rule. 

Good luck to you, celebrate every day, and while 24 collections looks insurmountable, it can be fixed with time, patience, and some knowledge. 

[gdale6]

Glad you made it thru.

For unpaid medical debt that is reporting on your CR:

1. Call the OC and see if you qualify for Charity Care
2. If not then ask that they recall the collection in exchange for full payment
3. Send the reporting CA a PFD offer
4. Google the HIPAA Process and contact its creator for help

[RobertEG]

If a prior owner has sold the debt, then they can no longer accept any payment, PFD or otherwise.

A PFD is only made to a party who either owns the debt or is currently an assignee of the current owner.

If debt collector 1 sells a debt to debt collector 2, then the CRA reporting manual instructs debt collector 1 to promptly delete their collection, so you should only have one debt collector reporting per debt.

[MostlyAwake]

Thanks guys. I want to make sure that whatever I do I am not vulnerable to having it remain or repost at a later time after I pay them.

If the OC recalls the collection would I get to see it come off my report before I paid them?

I have a fairly convenient situation in that despite there being 24 of them, they are owned by only 3 places so it mmitigates the amount of people I have to call and talk to.

I only have interest in paying them to get them removed.

[MostlyAwake]

I know one of the CAs is notorious for arbitrarily not doing PFDs and they own 17 of the collections.

[Anonymous]

Before doing anything else do as azguy13 and gdale6 advised and google the HIPAA Letter process follow it exactly as laid out.  If you have problems finding the website or questions PM me.