I wrote this diary a couple of weeks ago as a cry for help when my family's medical bills spiraled out of control. http://www.dailykos.com/...
And guess what? In spite of the long election season, in spite of leaving everything on the road, and having nothing left over for your own holidays, some of you stepped up to the plate and reduced my load by about $500.
That's the basic part of my goal met already. You have matched the monthly payment I was making on these three large bills, so that I was able to put more into the several little bills (each of which was under $300 but which together added up), to the point where the last of the little bills will be paid before the end of January 2009, without completely stiffing the larger ones. It is possible that this much alone might be enough to keep the accounts out of collection for another month.
Additionally, and maybe coincidentally (or not, if you believe in karma), The Redhead this week complained to the provider about a particularly incompetent procedure that was included on the bills, a procedure that will have to be repeated because they did it wrong the first time, and the provider informed her that they intended to reverse the charge for the wrongly provided procedure (about another $250 or so). There is light and hope on the way.
One mouse can get buried under a huge pile of grain, and suffocate. An army of mice, if large enough, can make off with the contents of an entire grain silo. 1,200 Kosters sending $5 each could make the whole debt go away. 100 Kosters sending $5 each could dent it enough so that I can come up with a realistic payment plan for the rest.
In any case, you, together with some readers on other blogs, and maybe a member or two of my extended family, have rescued Christmas for one of your own, at least to the minimal degree.
For those of you who missed the original post, here is the contact information for the medical creditors one more time. And thank you.
Billing #1:
Peacehealth Medical Group.
Account/Guarantor no. 391434
Patient name: Jennifer A. Rosenberg
Current balance: $4,108.64
Address: PO Box 569, Eugene, OR 97440
(541)335-2149
Accepts Visa/Master/Discover
Billing #2:
Peacehealth Medical Group
Patient No. 02043757
Account No. 180975
Patient name: Jennifer A. Rosenberg
Current Balance: $1,201.45
Same address/phone as above
Billing #3:
Oregon Medical Group
Account No. 30787
Patient name: Jennifer A. Rosenberg
Current balance: $1,373.54
Address: PO Box 6000, San Francisco CA 94160
(541) 687-4905
Accepts Visa/Master/Discover/American Express
And as mentioned previously, neither creditor appears to be set up to accept on-line payment, and I am not asking anyone to send money directly to me.