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Have you ever had to suddenly go to the emergency room or even just the doctor?
It always seems to happen unexpectedly at the worst times.
At least it did for me.
Paying medical bills is almost as stressful as having health problems itself.
Don’t even get me started on how ridiculous the costs are…
Whether you’re still working on paying your medical bills or just anticipating them in the future, here is how to pay off unexpected medical debt.
How to Pay Off Unexpected Medical Debt
Create an Emergency Fund
If you’re already in medical debt, it might be a little too late for this.
BUT you can be prepared if it happens again.
You need to start an emergency fund to cover things like your car, pet, or more medical bills.
If you don’t have that much to begin with, that’s okay!
Start small and slowly add your extra money to the fund every week or month.
Your emergency fund will slowly grow over time and then you won’t have to worry as much about future expenses.
Related: Bad Money Habits You Need to Quit Immediately
Organize your Finances
In order to create an emergency fund and know how much money can go to medical bills, you need to start organizing your finances.
Start by keeping track of where all your money is going.
There could be subscriptions that you’ve forgotten to cancel or maybe you just don’t use them anymore.
Find all of your important financial documents and keep those together.
You can find more tips to organize your finances here.
Start a Budget
Now that you’ve organized your finances, you can start a budget.
Starting a budget comes down to how much money is coming in and how much is going out.
Write down how much you usually spend on things like gas, groceries, bills, rent/mortgage, etc. in a month. Then write down how much you’re bringing in.
Subtract your expenses from your income and that’s how much you have leftover each month.
Now you’re not going to spend that leftover money each month. You’re going to figure out where you can make cuts in your spending so that can go towards your medical debt.
To make things easier, I like to use a budget planner.
Related: Money-Saving Challenges you need to Try
Set up a Payment Plan
If you can’t afford to pay your whole medical bill (most people can’t), you can usually set up a payment plan.
The one thing that’s good about medical debt compared to other debt is there is usually low interest or no interest payment plans.
Sometimes they will automatically set up a payment plan for you, but you also might have to set that up with the medical facility.
Check the Receipt
Whether it’s an accident or not, sometimes you might get charged for things you didn’t actually receive.
Ask for an itemized receipt and make sure you actually received everything on there.
If not, you can call the billing department and insurance to dispute it.
Related: 18 Money Habits to Start in your 20s
Apply for Financial Assistance
Some hospitals offer financial assistance.
Even if you think you might not get accepted, there’s always a chance so it’s worth a try.
You also might not get all of your medical bill paid for, but some of it.
Start a Side Hustle
If you’re going to pay off unexpected medical debt over a longer period of time, you could consider starting a side hustle.
Here are some ways you can make extra money on the side to go towards your medical bills.
You can check out some of my favorite fast and easy ways to make a little extra money below.
- Survey Junkie– You can sign up for Survey Junkie here and get paid when you reach $5 (super fast and easy)
- Ibotta– Ibotta is my favorite way to make a little extra money any time I go grocery shopping. You get a $20 sign up bonus when you try the Ibotta app here!
- InboxDollars– Watch videos, take surveys, or play games to earn cash. Get a $5 bonus when you sign up today!
- FetchRewards-I’ve already cashed out TWO $10 credit cards after a couple of months just for scanning receipts. Use the code 35AU3 to get 2,000 points when you scan your first receipt.
Pay Off Smaller Debts First
One of the best methods of paying off debt is to pay the smaller bills first.
That way you can get those out of the way faster.
Pay the Minimum on Larger Debts
When you pay the minimum on larger debts, you have more money to put towards the smaller ones.
However if you have the money and want to pay it off faster, you can pay more on it
Related: Money Saving Tips to Save Thousands Each Year
How to Pay off Unexpected Medical Debt
I hope this helps you pay off unexpected medical debt.
Trust me, I’ve been there myself just recently. I know how stressful it can be.
Try to just relax and realize that you’ll be okay.
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