Paying Off Medical Bills Will Pay Off in the End

Medical bills are the worst. They can creep up on you when you least expect them to and then leave you in a heap of debt while giving you few alternatives to resolve the situation. When you have few resources, there are only two things you can do: allow the hospital bills to default and damage your credit history or keep your credit score intact by paying off medical bills.

Depending on where you sit, each choice offers an advantage and disadvantage. Of course, the obvious benefit of defaulting in payments is you get to keep your savings (that is, if you have any) and assets. Since medical bills are unsecured debts, no hospital or doctor can run after your house or car in payment for your debts. The worst that can happen to you is a bad credit score, prohibiting you from getting low interest whenever you make a loan for a period of seven years.

One misconception about low credit scores is that you are barred from applying for credit, which is not true at all. In fact, credit managers are willing to overlook medical bills when assessing if the applicant is credit-worthy or not. Or, depending on the state where you live in, you can actually resume loan applications in two years' time.

Paying off medical bills will keep your credit score in good standing but interestingly enough, families who strive to meet their unpaid hospital bills do so not because they want to maintain their credit scores, it's more about keeping their word. It is as though they feel they owe a large debt of gratitude to the doctor or hospital responsible for their recovery or the treatment of their loved ones. In the same manner, we can't really deny that some families do take advantage of the system to "one-up" the hospitals even after being given the health service they need.

In paying off medical bills, you not only maintain your good credit standing but also build a reputation as a person who keeps his word. This will keep you in good stead, especially if you have a family member with a lingering illness. Hospitals keep track of their patients and credit collection agencies share sensitive information. You may fool the system once, but twice will be a hard sell.