When taking care of a hospital bill filing for insolvency is something you want to avoid at all costs. It severely hurts your credit score, and makes it much harder to receive future loans and jobs. Paying it off with a credit card is only a standby relief of the debt; the debt being shifted from the hospital to the credit card company in that case.
Most people think it’s unethical to haggle and negotiate a hospital bill, while the complete opposite is true. Negotiating your hospital bill can be done the exact same way you negotiate and barter for items at a marketplace.
Before you do any negotiating revise the bill and make sure you’re only paying for service you receive; don’t get scammed into paying for something you didn’t get. Also check with your health insurance provider to see what part of the bill they will be able to pay.
After revising the bill negotiate with a representative in a calm, but firm way. Screaming, hollering, and throwing fits wont help anything and should be avoided. You should try to make a point; that the bill is just too high for you to pay and needs to be lowered.
Carry a record of all previous conversations, and be sure to handle all negotiations in person; handling it on the phone isn’t recommended. Be very clear with what you want, and make sure the hospital knows exactly what you are trying to achieve.