Where can you get a potential $15,000,000 for $60,000?
- Thread starter Baggsy
- Start date
I'm sure this is true, there are many people struggling with medical debt in the US. My experience is different though.
Broke my arm in Virginia, had to get emergency ORIF surgery (plates screwed onto bones). Total bill was $7500ish, half of that was the anesthesiologist. My travel medical insurance covered that in full, but even if they didn't, that's not too bad.
The staff at the hospital even mentioned that if I didn't have insurance, as long as I paid a $1 a month it wouldn't go into receivership.
Apparently that's because they sell medical debt for roughly nothing so you're $1 a month exceeds the amount they get from selling your debt.
Riceburner
Well-known member
That's why companies buy the debt....
I know, but doing it as an individual part time
-D-
Banned
And when lots of those people start dying...how do you collect...the pool will be in the red big time.
Making money treating sick people is lacking a certain something.
By default if a business purpose if to make profit then clearly there has to be a winner and a loser (long run)...placing a value on a life vs. a profit...tricky deal.
Riceburner
Well-known member
I know, but doing it as an individual part time
Didn't want to do it for a company as a job, definitely wouldn't want to do it as an individual.
Yeah its probably a crap job doing collections. Though in this case you can literally offer people to pay only 3-4% of their original debt, and still make money.
At 1% you are more than doubling your money on that account.
It would be interesting to follow the sales of the debt and see how it degraded with time. My guess is the debt JO bought is many steps removed from the original hospitals. The most interesting figure is what the hospitals get when they first sell (I'd guess 25 to 50% but I have no idea).
Only if you collect on every account, which is probably not at all realistic.
The data I'd wanna see before buying the debt is how many attempts have been made at collecting , and how old the accounts are. It's interesting..
A few years back another forum I go on did a fund raiser for a US member in tough shape. Out of a job and therefore benefits the free clinics could only tell him he had cancer but to say exactly which variation would need the facilities of a "Pay to live" hospital that wanted $10,000 just to register him.
He questioned adding the $10 G's to his potential widow's debt load if the diagnosis came back "Incurable".
We raised about $15 G's for him, he got the proper diagnosis and it turned out that his variation wasn't what was first thought. His was a type that qualified for a state assistance program so he got free treatment, drugs etc. He was still on the hook for about $ 12 G's of the original tests.
He ignored the hospital's bills until they threatened him with collections saying that they would settle for half if he paid up. He then paid the tab.
He's alive and kicking today.
He questioned adding the $10 G's to his potential widow's debt load if the diagnosis came back "Incurable".
We raised about $15 G's for him, he got the proper diagnosis and it turned out that his variation wasn't what was first thought. His was a type that qualified for a state assistance program so he got free treatment, drugs etc. He was still on the hook for about $ 12 G's of the original tests.
He ignored the hospital's bills until they threatened him with collections saying that they would settle for half if he paid up. He then paid the tab.
He's alive and kicking today.
This works for just about any debt except taxes. If you don't mind a hit on your credit rating, it's not entirely bad to hold out. Its dishonest, but hey, if you're in a tough spot **** it. To the creditor, some money is always better than no money.
