medical debt and financial assistance

[beanie7132]

Back in 2007 my husband was burned in a house fire. This caused 30K in medical bills. He was treated at Doctors Hospital Burn Center in Georgia. He had a 4 day stay and then follow up visits every week for 3 months. We got all of the follow up visits taken care of with financial assistance each time he had a follow up. They also paid for all his meds and dressing and wound cleanser through a partnership with a mom and pop pharmacy. He wasnt working at the time, we were not married and he did not qualify for Medicaid. Our income was only 32K at the time with just me working. We did not know to file for FA for the main hospital bill.

Right now he has $17,517  for one medical account in collections on his CRs. It is out of SOL for our state from what I can tell and its just a collection, there was never any judgement thank goodness.

I want to try to get this removed with financial assistance. Heres where I am stuck... it is from 2007 and we are now married with a combined income of 74K. Will they take all that into account for financial assistance? Or will it most likely be based on his circumstances at that time?

Is it possible to be 1099ed for a forgiven medical bill if the FA route works?

Suggestions anyone? I have only done FA while the debt was current and with the medical facility - I have never attempted after the debt has been with a CA for long.

[guiness56]

All you can do is try.  The hospital may not even own it any more and may not be able to help you.  I am not sure how they would decide how to handle it as far as past or present income.

From what I know about 1099-Cs, anything is possible.

[beanie7132]

Would this high of medical debt be forgiven on a mortgage app in the future? I doubt we would ever apply for a home more than 150K - homes here are 119K at best. If asked, we would disclose that info... but how would a UW view something this high? Just trying to figure out if its worth the battle or not. We cannot pay it - we just dont have 17K laying around and its due to fall off in a year or so.

[guiness56]

I really can't answer that question.  You could go over to the mortgage forum and look around or post that question there. 

There are several over there that would know.

[Jon85]

Depending on your state, the hospital financial assistance may not be able to help you any longer because it's from 2007.

*HOPEFULLY* they will be able to backdate that far and help. And if they do, they would look at your circumstances from 2006-07 as opposed to today. So they'll probably want tax returns, etc.

In NJ, you can only apply for financial assistance for up to two years prior, and they look at your situation during the year you recieved treatment and the year before.

[beanie7132]

crap - I will call them this week and see if there is anything they can do for him and this collection. Its for a hospital in Georgia and we do not live in that state and never had. So, with the FA having time limits I wonder which state would matter...... man, its easy as heck to get into a credit hole and harder than h3ll to dig out. =/

Thank you both for your comments!