Needing medical attention is often unavoidable in certain situations. Unfortunately, many North Carolina residents may consider forgoing treatment due to the high costs of certain procedures. Often, individuals accrue considerable amounts of outstanding medical debt and find it difficult to address the balances effectively. As a result, their credit scores and other financial affairs may suffer.
Some parties may find it interesting to learn that new rules regarding medical debt and credit reports will soon go into effect nationwide. Reports stated that there will be a 180-day period before outstanding medical debt gets recorded on patients credit reports. Before this blanket rule was in place, some offices would give patients anywhere from 30 to 180 days before placing their bills into collections.
Knowing that they will have a full 180 days to get their financial affairs in order may help many patients feel less stressed about the medical expenses. Because approximately 43 million citizens have nearly $600 in collections due to medical costs, this change could prove beneficial to numerous people. This particular change may prove especially useful to individuals who only have medical debt affecting their credit.
Of course, even with new regulations and extended time periods, some North Carolina residents may just have too much medical debt to handle on their own. In such cases, exploring debt relief options could potentially work in their best interests. Finding out how bankruptcy could possibly help individuals deal with medical debt could allow struggling parties find a way out from under their outstanding balances. Enlisting the assistance of seasoned attorneys may help parties with such a journey.
Source: mydaytondailynews.com, “Medical debt relief is coming“, Clark Howard, July 20, 2017
