Medical debt keeps reaging........ will it ever end?

[Anonymous]

In 2003, my daughter had two brain surgeries. I have 34, yes, 34 medical collections from that six week period. Everyone who saw her during her hospital stay billed separately. I did everything wrong initially. I paid off my credit cards and closed them out. I voluntarily returned my $500/mo. vehicle that went along with the high insurance, and bought a paid for car and dropped it to liability. I sold my house (yes, sold) and rented a home that was half the price. I was freeing up my finances for the extra medical expenses and my loss of income while I missed work to address her medical issues. It was the right thing for me to do to ensure I could stay afloat, unfortunately it was the worst thing ever for my credit. I have bought everything I own cash since then. My credit is horrific- 480's and this is 6 years later. They keep selling my accounts and the new agency reports it with a date open of 07 or 08. My vehicle shows date .opened by CA as 08 there is no dofd date listed, which should have been reported for 03. What are my options... all my good credit, my other vehicles bought without a single late payment, my cc's never late, my mortgages- never late, have ironically rolled off!  I think I have earned the right to have decent credit. I made arrangements and payments and they just kept those on my credit as paid collections and it updated the date...... my daughter is getting ready for college and I cannot help her as I have zero credit.

[fused]

Welcome to the forums! I am sorry to hear about you and your daughter's misfortunes.

Did your daughter have health insurance at the time of her treatment?

Are these 34 med collections paid or unpaid?

If unpaid, how much do you owe in total?

[fused]

Oh, BTW, when a CA reports an open date, that's no re-aging, its simply the date they received the debt to collect on. Reporting SOL (statute of limitations) always goes by the DOFD (date of first default, with medical debt, that's seven years from the date of treatment.

[Anonymous]

She had insurance. The thirty four are unpaid. They total differently TU- 76K, Ex 44K, EQ- 86K.  Great right? So, effectively, I have until 2010 which is the 7 yr mark from date of service. I have no other derogatory marks than medical. It shows that Texas has a statue of limitations of 6 years. What does that mean? Does the 7 yr mark supercede?

[fused]

There are two types of SOL, legal and reporting.

The legal SOL for med debt varies by state and by "type". Med debt originating from providers, dentists and facilities that are 100% private and DO NOT accept a single penny in Federal money will have a legal SOL of 3-4 years, depending on your state. Med debt that is owed to any entity that receives federal funding does not have SOL, that is, you could be sued so long as the debt is unpaid. This type of med debt is considered debt owed to the government, very similar to some student loans and unpaid tax liens.

Reporting SOL, that is how long the med collection can stay on your reports, is seven years from the date(s) of service. The date is set and cannot change. So, just because the collection agencies can't report the collections in the future, doesn't mean the debt vanishes. You owe and enormous amount of money, I'm very surprised the OC and the CAs haven't tried to sue you. I feel for you!