Can this rule fend off credit score hits from expensive care?

When Cheryl Montgomery awoke within the hospital after a medical emergency, the very last thing on her thoughts was the billing headache that will comply with.

Even with strong medical insurance, Montgomery nonetheless owed $25,000 on half a dozen payments from an ambulance firm, an out-of-network hospital, an anesthesiologist, a lab and varied medical doctors. She employed a shopper advocate who negotiated the payments to a lowered quantity, which she paid.

She assumed her medical monetary disaster was over. Not even shut, it turned out.

In January 2022, a 12 months and a half after her hospitalization, a set company representing a health care provider she could not recall ever assembly billed her $1,700. The gathering company pestered her with calls and letters and reported the debt to credit standing companies that lowered her credit score rating the identical month she was making an attempt to lease a brand new car.