Help with paying hospital bills in California.
Get help from Mercy Medical Center Merced
With about 17 percent of Merced County residents owing on medical bills or having some type of medical debt due, Mercy Medical is doing what it can to help. This percentage is slightly higher than the California state average. Sadly, having that unpaid medical is resulting in bankruptcy and other financial hardships. Over half the people who have medical debt have reported financial consequences and are also falling behind on other bills.
If someone who received medical care at Mercy owes more than 15 percent of their annual income to the hospital for a bill or unpaid debt, the hospital has a hardship plan they are offering individuals and families. In many cases, they will apply a discount to those hospital bills.
In addition, the hospital a offers a payment assistance program, which is a version of the hospital's charity care assistance program. If a patient absolutely cannot pay their bills, they may qualify for the charity program, which may provide them relief.
What is most important is that if patients do have medical debt they owe, they should never ignore the bills. They will always do what they can to work with people. They offer a payment plan that extends the payments for up to 30 months. People need to communicate, and talk to them.
If they don’t work with the hospital, Mercy Medical Center Merced will assign unpaid accounts to bad debt agencies. Many of the accounts provided to debt collectors are from people who have insurance, yet are still struggling. Last year, Mercy wrote off $15 million in bad debt from unpaid bills.
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