Have you ever let a medical bill go unattended? If so, you now what sort of trouble that can cause for a person. Medical bills that go for too long without being paid can turn into judgements and destroy your credit score. To completely avoid this, here are some tips to help you get your medical bills paid on time.

Double Check The Charges

Medical providers are notorious for overcharging for services. The main reason this happens is that insurance companies always get charged the highest posssible prices. Through good chargemaster management, a medical provider can avoid overcharging patients, but when these services aren’t in place, the responsibility of calling them out on the overages is in your hands.

Most of the time, a simple phone call to disput charges can result in the charge being reduced. Make sure to always cal your medical provider to make sure the charge is accurate to avoid paying more than you need to on your medical bills.

Don’t Ignore Bills

If you get a medical bill that you can’t afford to pay, the absolute worst thing to do is to ignore it. Medical providers know this sort of thing happens all the time, and the best thing to do is to call them and see if they can work out a payment plan with you. Most providers are able to provide payment plans to make paying the bill much easier to do. Payment plans usually also help you to avoid costly credit score dings that can take years to repair.

Don’t Use Credit Cards

Paying off a medical bill with a credit card because you don’t have cash on hand to pay it is a pitfall too many people fall into. Credit card companies are much more ruthless than medical providers if you can’t pay your bill. Credit card companies don’t offer payment plans with customers like medical providers do. If you fall behind on your credit card payments, the company can easily tank your credit and even shut down your account making it virtually impossible to get another credit card until several years have passed.

As you can see, ignoring medical bills is one of the worst things to do. Instead, contacting the medical provider is the best thing to do in order to see if there are payment plans that can be worked out to help you get out of the hole you are in.