June 25, 2025 • 29 mins
Medical debt affects over 100 million Americans, but many don't realize the financial consequences of how they choose to pay it. In this episode, Jessica and Brandon break down why using a credit card for medical expenses can turn a manageable bill into long-term financial damage.
You’ll learn:
- The key differences between medical debt and consumer debt—and why it matters
- How credit card payments erase crucial protections for medical bills
- Smarter ways to handle unexpected medical expenses
Whether you're navigating a surprise bill now or planning for future care, this episode equips you with the knowledge to protect your credit, reduce costs, and avoid common traps in the U.S. healthcare system.
Visit prenups.com/sugardaddy to learn more about fair prenups that help couples plan for a healthy financial relationship.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:44):
Over 100 million Americans arestruggling with medical debt,
but what happens when that debtends up on your credit card?
Today, we are going to talkabout the hidden dangers of
using credit cards to pay foryour medical bills, If that's of
(01:09):
interest, Stay tuned.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Hey babe, what are we talking about today?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Today we are talking about paying your medical bills
on a credit card, and it's sucha timely conversation because,
literally as we're recordingthis, you're sitting here with
your little boot on your littleknee scooters right next to the
desk.
You're still non-weight bearingfor the next four weeks and
(01:36):
we've got three we're down tothree.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
And when you're, when you're going through with that,
that extra week makes adifference.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Okay, yeah, I mean listen for me too.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
I mean'm ready, like let's do this, let's get you
back functioning for those ofyou don't know um four weeks ago
I tore my achilles tendon andmy right foot, which means that
I cannot drive, and I'm aboutthree weeks now.
I'm three weeks post-op and Igot about another three weeks
before I can hopefully be ableto drive and start pt which
means that I'm essentially asingle parent.
(02:04):
Yep, that's very true.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Brandon has been living downstairs, which we're
grateful that there is a fullbedroom and a full bath with a
walk-in shower downstairs.
He has not been upstairs in ourhouse in three weeks, four
weeks.
Has not helped with anythingthat happens upstairs when you
have children.
So bath times, showers, I meanall the things All that to say
your all the things.
(02:25):
Yeah, all that to say your girlis exhausted.
Okay, yes, I am tired, I istired.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
And in addition to her having to do all the work
and being exhausted, came with anice little $5,000, $6,000 bill
.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Right, which is only because we have health insurance
and we have out-of-pocket max,but also when we were signing
you in.
So the episode came aboutbecause of what we're going to
talk about right now, which iswe signed you in, did the
patient check-in, you were, youknow, getting ready to go back
to surgery and of course, youhave to sign your life away and
you're signing all the medical,you know, information and the
(03:04):
and here's how you're going tobe billed, et cetera, et cetera.
And they put us on a paymentplan, the payment plan because
this was a private hospital.
Of course, we didn't get tochoose where the surgeon
actually performs the surgeries,but it turns out that this is a
private hospital and so thebills, the payment plan that
they put us on is $1,400 a month.
(03:25):
That is a mortgage, that isrent, that is a like.
That to me is not a paymentplan.
I was pissed.
To me, a payment plan is $175 amonth, $230 a month, $65 a
month, not $1,400.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I can't say the silver lining and going to have
the surgery where I had it.
According to all my friendsthat work within the medical
field, they're like it's goodthat you had it there, because
they're like this is an injurythat you really shouldn't have
fixed at.
Like you know, yourquote-unquote traditional
hospital like your rando becausethey don't.
They don't specialize in itlike normally yeah, you went to
an orthopedic surgeon.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I mean, no, of course we want to get you the best
care, but I'm talking about thepayment plan, the $1,400 a month
payment plan.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
And the funny part is is like, just as asking a bunch
of questions, obviously, andshe's like what if you know
someone can't pay this?
And they're like they don'twant the surgery.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
She literally looked at me and she said it's not a
life-threatening surgery andthey just don't get it.
And then she said welcome toAmerica.
I mean, we literally had amoment.
We were standing there, it was,I think there was one other
couple next to us.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
She understood 100% how ridiculous it was, but like,
obviously it's not her rule,Right right and she did.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
It's funny because she even pointed out on the
paperwork you know it has likethe 1400 and then like the the
due dates, because I thinkthere's like I guess, four, yeah
, four monthly assignments orwhatever anyways.
And then I was like this is justcrazy, like this is a crazy
amount of money for a paymentplan.
And so she was like I can'tlegally tell you this, but I'm
(05:01):
gonna point to point to thispiece.
You know, this part on thepiece of paper that basically
was like you have 60 days fromlike the time that you receive
all of the paperwork and ask forthe itemized bill, et cetera,
et cetera, to make your firstpayment.
Aka she was like basicallysaying that there was, you know,
a 60 day buffer that we couldfall under Either way, 60 days
(05:24):
is not going to make adifference when you have a
$1,400 payment.
So obviously Brandon and Istarted trying to figure out
like okay, we're gonna have topay this anyway.
Can we get something for it?
We have some upcoming trips.
You guys know we're prettyDelta loyal, but some of these
trips are gonna be flying adifferent airline.
Do we open up a new card, getsome points, get some miles?
(05:46):
Like we're going to spend themoney anyway.
How do we get something for it?
And so the kind of the researchthat came out of that was if
you can handle it, there mightbe benefit to putting the
medical bills on a credit card,but I think the overarching
theme is you're putting yourselfat risk, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
So basically, at the end of the day, is it a good
idea to pay medical bills with acredit card?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah, so that's what we're going to talk about today.
So that was the longest intro,but we wanted to kind of set the
tone and give you context on.
You know why we were thinkingabout this and honestly, it's
something that affects.
It affects so many of us.
I mean even taking your kidsjust for their annual checkups,
or if somebody has an earinfection on the weekends and
you go to urgent care.
(06:31):
I mean these appointmentsthey're costing an arm and a leg
.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
All right, real quick .
I want to speak to the personlistening who feels like they
can't work with a financialplanner yet because they're
carrying a lot of debt.
First of all, I see you and Ineed you to know.
You're not broken, You're notbehind, You're just in a tough
season.
I created something just foryou because I've had people
reach out who are serious aboutchanging their money story.
But the full financial planningpackage just wasn't the right
(07:01):
fit yet.
So I built a new service throughOak City Financial that's
focused completely on debtreduction no fluff, no shame.
You'll get a one-time planningsession, a personalized payoff
strategy, your own financialdashboard and monthly coaching.
If you want extra support whileyou climb out, it's $300 to get
started and $100 a month.
If you want that ongoingguidance, that's it.
(07:23):
This is about helping you getunstuck, not making you feel
like you failed.
If this sounds like what you'vebeen needing, go ahead and
schedule a call with me.
The link is in the show notes.
Let's take the first steptogether.
Yeah, and the thing is, over100 million Americans have
medical debt, Right, so it islike she said, it affects a lot
(07:45):
of people a third of thepopulation, essentially.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
It's just, it's so sad and it's crippling and it
you know you pay hundreds ofdollars, if not 1000s, a month
for your health insurance andthen you still get slapped with
huge bills.
And then you know we are alsokind of okay, we have the $1,400
a month bill, but then we'restill waiting on the
anesthesiology bill, we're stillwaiting on the lab bill.
We're still waiting, and weknow that these bills are just
(08:11):
going to keep coming for thenext probably three, four, five,
six months, even though wemight be fully paid by then.
Because not everything islinked together, because heaven
forbid one surgery come with onebill.
No, it's going to come from allthese different places.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah, if you've ever, you know, had to have surgery
or anything major happened, yougo to a hospital.
You realize that, oh, like Iwent to one place, maybe I
should get one bill.
No no, everyone's an individualcontractor and you're getting a
bill from here, a bill fromthere, like it's.
Anything is.
If you don't stay on top of it,it's actually really hard to
track.
It's not an easy process.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Yeah.
So one of the big things tocall out.
Let's say you do take the routeof okay, I want to swipe.
Swipe my problems away and putall of this on a credit card,
get your points, get your miles,even if you're not getting
anything for it.
You're just like man.
I'm annoyed.
Let me just kind of quoteunquote get rid of this,
consolidate it.
What you're doing is you'reactually removing the
(09:10):
protections around medical bills, because once you swipe your
card and you put that medicalbill on your credit card, it now
becomes consumer debt.
It is no longer a medicalexpense.
It doesn't matter that thatline item says XYZ hospital, xyz
surgery center, it is now aconsumer debt, just like if you
(09:33):
go to the grocery store, the gasstation, kohl's, walmart, it
doesn't matter.
That is now what it is.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And there's been a lot of changes recently in
regards to how medical debt ishandled.
So, for example, you knowmedical debt no longer shows up
on your credit score, which is ahuge one for a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yes.
So that means that even if youdo end up maybe not making your
payments on time, missing apayment, asking for some sort of
lower payment plan, you don'thave the money at this time.
That comes with legalprotections that the credit card
company is not going to giveyou.
They do not care that this isnow a medical bill that you put
(10:10):
on your credit card.
They are just going to collecttheir interest and it is going
to grow and compound day overday, month over month.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
And the thing in addition to that is that now
that you put on your credit card, if you don't pay it off on
time, then you are now going tohave a high interest rate, more
than likely, and you don't havethe same thing when you have a
payment plan through whereveryou had that medical procedure
done.
So obviously in my scenario itwas a very high payment plan,
(10:40):
but we didn't explore.
There has to be other optionsdown the road or else they don't
get their money.
And once again it's not in yourcredit score either.
So they got to kind of workwith you to deal with this.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
I mean, would you rather have $500 than no dollars
?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah.
Right, Like at some pointpeople are going to pick up the
phone to say I cannot provideyou $1,400.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
You need to work with me.
Capital One is not going towork with you.
That medical facility, you know, is going to eventually have to
.
Sure, they could send you tocollections, but that's going to
take a long time and at the endof the day, that's not going to
guarantee that they get paid.
So they are going to be moreincentivized to work with you,
whereas you know these big banksor even the smaller banks are
not going to care.
Not to mention, most interestrates are 20 plus percent.
(11:29):
So now you have a high medicalbill and you're adding on a very
high interest rate.
If you're not planning onpaying that off in full and that
can be detrimental that willsnowball very quickly.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, and, like I said once again, you've switched
it from medical billing debt toconsumer debt.
That's going to be in yourcredit score.
That can affect so many otheraspects of your life nowadays,
because nowadays you have someemployers that take into account
your credit score.
If you're looking to be hired,even if you're just not trying
to buy a home, if you're tryingto lease, rent an apartment,
they look at your credit score.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Even buying a new phone sometimes.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
So they look at all the.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Opening up your.
You know when you access yournew utilities.
You know when you're connectingyour water and your electricity
, like a lot of times, they willrun your credit as well, so it
can affect so many other aspectsof your life.
Yeah, and depending on how highthe bill is, if you put it on
your credit card, it's going tothen also impact some of the
factors that make up your creditscore, like your credit
(12:28):
utilization, which is the amountof money that you have access
to in comparison to the amountof money that you're actually
using.
You want to keep that creditutilization.
30% or less is ideal, and ifyou don't have a lot of credit
available and now you have a bigbill that you're adding onto a
(12:48):
credit card, your creditutilization is going to go up
and oftentimes that inverts andmakes your score go down.
So you always want to try tostrive for a lower credit
utilization, meaning you have alot of credit available to you
but you're not using it.
That's why it's alwaysimportant to keep your oldest
credit card.
(13:08):
I'm not going to go off on thistangent too long, but keep your
oldest credit card and don'tclose credit cards unless you
absolutely have to, becauseagain, it's going to impact the
amount of credit you haveavailable, which impacts your
credit utilization score.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
And also we are very much well aware of one our
privileged situation where wecan afford to put it on our
credit card and pay it offwithout having to deal with all
these issues.
But for a lot of people itmight be their only option.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
So you know they don't have the money in.
So, for example, when I went tohave my surgery, as you said, I
had to pay something upfront,or the surgery was not happening
that day.
So if somebody didn't have$1,400, then, hey, their credit
card might be the only option inorder to get the care that they
need, and I understand that.
But it can also come with a bigpenalty behind it.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yeah, and this is also just a friendly reminder
Most hospitals, especiallypublic hospitals that are not
private facilities, will havesome sort of payment assistance
programs.
You might have to fill out anapplication, you might have to
get further documentation.
I'm not saying it's not goingto take a little effort and
(14:17):
intentionality on your part, butthere are programs available to
either help you make thepayments and or lower your
payments.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Sorry, I'm not laughing at what you said.
I was just thinking about whatthey were saying in regards to
it's not life-threatening.
Yes, I wasn't going to die, butI couldn't walk properly.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
And then what other problems are you going to cause
by not having the surgery, notbeing able to walk?
I mean, it's just ridiculous Tome.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
It wasn't an optional surgery.
It wasn't like oh, I want to goget a facelift.
Yeah, no, I mean Mike Healy's.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yes, you do.
Um, the other thing that Ithink is important to note, as
we're talking about medicalbills If you can avoid it, don't
make any payments without anitemized statement, because 80%
of medical bills have errors,which means that you're being
(15:11):
overcharged, you're beingmischarged, there are codes that
are going to be on that chartor on that bill that don't even
apply to you.
You need to ask for an itemizedbill and you need to review it,
and then, if you see somethingthat didn't happen, you need to
dispute it, and so that'ssomething that we always
encourage people to do is to askfor an itemized bill and don't
(15:35):
make any payments until that isreceived, and you've looked it
over and you've disputedanything that is on there that
you know is incorrect.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
I think it's also a good call out that the person
who's taking you to the surgeryclue them in to pay attention to
what's going on.
Also Because most of the timeif you're going under you're
going to be a little loopycoming out.
You might not remembereverything that was or was not
given to you.
As compared to someone who'ssitting there can watch what
happened.
It's like, oh you know, thedoctor puts on the bill that
(16:05):
they gave you so-and-so and younever received so-and-so Right.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
And there are, like medical patient advocates as
well.
So maybe, if you don't havesomebody in your family that you
, you know, maybe I don't wantto say trust but maybe isn't
going to be an advocate formaking sure that the bill is
what it should be, you canactually in many cases, request
that somebody step in.
(16:27):
They're like a third party.
They're typically notassociated with the hospital.
They really are there toadvocate on the behalf of the
patient, to make sure that thecharges are correct and that the
payment terms are also in linewith what suits your needs to
the best of you know theabilities that they, that they
can.
Let's talk about the HSAs andFSAs when available.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I know those are accounts we've talked about in
the past.
Yeah, so the idea here is thatwith better options available.
Obviously, some of theseoptions you have to think about
beforehand to put them in place,but maybe what are some of the
better moves that you can makethat, if you do encounter having
to have a high medical bill,that you're better equipped to
handle it.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Yeah, we don't have an HSA or an FSA at this time.
One of the things that we werelooking at is getting a 0% offer
for a credit card that has anextended kind of term limit.
A credit card that has anextended kind of term limit, so
one that we're looking at rightnow is through December 2026,
(17:30):
which would give us almost ayear and a half, which is quite
a lot, I mean given, kind of 18months is normally going to be
the max I've ever seen for a 0%.
I get six month offers and ninemonth offers all the time, but
this one when I saw December2026, I was like, oh, that is
much better than $1,400 a month,right?
So then the idea would be wepay the full balance again after
(17:54):
reviewing the itemized bill,etc.
Etc.
And then we can make smallerpayments for the next 18 months
instead of taking $1,400 a month.
And applying it.
But really that only makessense on a 0% interest credit
card.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And I also want to explain in more detail that
thought process for us.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
So, instead of taking $5,000 or $6,000 out of our
savings to simply pay foreverything right now, we want to
provide ourselves with someflexibility, because we do have
the money there, if needed, tojust go ahead and plop it down
and pay it.
But if we could spread thepayments out over 18 months
instead?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
That puts more money in our pockets and our money to
grow For us it's just a matterof flexibility.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Like I said, the reason that we went ahead with
the idea of putting it on thecredit card is because we have
the cash to pay it off.
That's the biggest thing youneed to think about.
We have the money to pay it off.
That's the biggest thing youneed to think about.
We have the money to pay it offbefore any type of interest
would kick in.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Well, but also we don't want to if.
If for some reason like let'ssay, somebody's bill is $5,000
and they have $5,000 in theiremergency fund, we don't want
you to take the $5,000 out ofyour emergency fund to pay the
bill Depends, oh gosh.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
The reason I say it depends, because if you're
someone that doesn't have thediscipline to, if you have a
credit card to put on the creditcard and make sure that you pay
it off before any type ofinterest kicks in, then you
probably should just go aheadand use that $5,000.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
But then they have no more emergency fund.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
But that's what an emergency fund is for.
Emergency fund is for.
Emergency fund is for anemergency.
You don't want to slidebackwards.
So if you put on the creditcard and you don't pay it off
properly now, you're starting toaccrue interest on it.
Ultimately, you're going to endup paying more well, yes, okay,
we don't want you to pay moreobviously, so that's what I'm
saying yes, but I think you haveto have the discipline and a
plan in place to make sure that,if you are going to use a
(19:43):
credit card, that you you arepaying it off before any of that
20% interest kicks in.
Yeah, because, once again, whatwe said also, too, is that all
the other things we stated thatcome with putting on your credit
card and not paying it off isnot just the interest you have,
the credit utilization, and alsohow it's consumer debt, not
medical debt.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Right, so you lose those potential protections and
it could negatively affect yourscore.
Correct, got it?
Yeah, all right.
Well, these are things too,just as a call out that you help
your clients with, right?
I think so many people thinkthat you're just like you know,
you've got 16 screens in frontof you and like you're looking
like he's not day trading, right, these are the things that
people come to you about all thetime, like, oh, I got in a car
(20:22):
accident.
I need to buy a new car.
Do I buy the car that I reallywant because I can afford it, or
do I buy, you know, a car thatis going to be covered by you
know, whatever the insurance isgoing to give me?
Like, you have these real worldconversations, and this is one
of them.
Medical debt affects so manypeople.
Like your child might have anemergency surgery.
(20:44):
You might have an emergencysurgery.
Like things happen, and I thinkit's really important to note
that, working with a financialadvisor or the Brandons of the
world or just straight up,brandon, these are the things
that his clients bring to himall the time.
Hey, can I do that bathroomrenovation?
I really want that new closetinstalled.
That's going to cost $10,000.
(21:05):
Can I do this hardscapingaround my house?
Those are the real worldscenarios that you're helping
people figure out all the time.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Yeah, and when it comes to medical bills, you know
, one of the biggest things thatcome up to me is having a baby,
always.
So it's one understanding thosescenarios, like understanding
what type of what your insuranceentails, because the biggest
thing there is that in a givenyear, if you're going to have a
baby, you're going to reach yourout-of-pocket max.
So therefore, I can alreadytell you the maximum that you're
(21:36):
going to pay in that given yearfor having the baby.
In addition to that, once wefind out, you know, early on,
then we can start to, you know,build up a buffer over the few
months leading up into youactually having delivery, as far
as having money to handle thatyou know, so sitting down with
someone and having theseconversations so that you can
put a proper plan and strategyinto place so that you don't
have to put these medical billsyou know, obviously this one's
(21:59):
more a planned one so you don'thave to put it on your credit
card, but obviously you havesome scenarios where accidents
happen, like myself.
But you can start putting thesestrategies in place so that you
have a plan in place.
You know, kind of going back tothe HSA and FSA, you know, if
you're someone that is in a highdeductible health plan and you
have access to an HSA throughyour employer, especially if
(22:20):
your employer is going toprovide some money into your HSA
for you as far as a match, Iwant to recommend taking
advantage of that because that'sallowing you to set aside money
that is going to be going tothere and not pay taxes on, and
if you use it for medical billsyou don't have to pay any taxes
on it and you also have youremployer adding to it.
So it adds to the bucket thatyou have to handle these medical
bills in case you do have anaccident come up.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yeah, or even better, if your clients are talking to
you about these things when theyhave planned surgeries coming
up before open enrollment hey, Iknow, I need to do this foot
operation.
Open enrollment is around thecorner.
I think I should change mymedical plan.
Here's what that would looklike.
So those are, I think, reallyimportant conversations.
Obviously, yours was more of anemergent situation, even though
(23:04):
the lady tried to tell us it'snot life-threatening which it's
not, but it happened.
And now we're over here alsojust having the conversations on
what do we do, how do we makeit work, how do we pay this off?
We don't want to pay $1,400 amonth, you know.
And so all that to say.
We're in the thick of it, justlike everybody else, and we want
(23:26):
to just provide resources andcontext for how to navigate
these situations to the best ofour abilities.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
And also some of the other options too, other than
just swiping your credit card.
So if you have these optionsavailable to you for example,
often with the payment plansthat most hospitals offer have a
0% or a low interest rateattached to them, and the
payments are actually much morefeasible for you to make on a
monthly basis.
So in those scenarios,especially on a 0% interest, it
(23:55):
makes way more sense to go thatroute than to swipe with your
credit card.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yes.
Yes absolutely, or even I knowevery time I go I went to the
dentist the other day, you knowthey always have.
They have like their own creditcard and payment option where
you could have two years 0%.
You know, again, it is now acredit card, but if you're
getting it interest free itmight be something to consider.
You know, like I have to get acrown, that's going to be
(24:20):
another $1,100.
So it's all the things.
It's all the things.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
And also kind of going back to the whole thing
with one making sure you have anitemized bill to um make sure
that everything is correct.
Sometimes you can negotiatestuff as well, not necessarily
hard set, because I could tellyou this much that a procedure
in different areas has differentcosts associated with it yes,
and there's um, you know,reasonable.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
What is it called reasonable cost?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
yes, um, I know you're talking about.
I'm sorry we'll.
I'm sorry We'll put it in theshow notes, but they have to
give you a reasonable idea ofwhat the surgery is actually
going to cost you all in priorto what happening.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Right, and then you can do the research and you can
basically say this is not areasonable price.
Like, how are you, you know,increasing the price 30% from
what the rest of the country ischarging for, something like
this?
So you know there's there's alot of nuance to medical bills
and medical debt and how medicalbills are.
(25:17):
You know how they come intoplay.
And so research and holdingthese institutions accountable,
getting the itemized bills, etcetera, is really, really
important.
You cannot just take things atface value.
You have to ask for the detailsand then look them over.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Also, a lot of people don't realize that there is
such thing as medical bill loans, so that is an option also
available to you if needed, andoften the terms of that is going
to be significantly better thanputting it on your credit card,
because the interest rates aregoing to be lower.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
And again, it's still considered medical debt and not
consumer debt.
What I think we want to leaveyou with out of all the things
is, once you put it on a creditcard, it is no longer medical
debt.
It is now consumer debt.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yeah, debt, yeah.
So even if you're in you know,maybe a hard situation, you do
need to take a step back andmaybe think through the process
on how you're going to pay forthat medical bill Because, for
example, if it's an emergencyand it needs to happen right
then and there you're not goingto have a bill right that second
, because it's an emergency lifeor threatening.
They're going to do theprocedure to save your life or
(26:27):
whatever needs to be done, butthen you're going to have to
think through afterwards what isthe best course of action for
me to handle this debt.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Right, yeah, we know it sucks, we know it's terrible,
we know it feels awful and,honestly, you know, just to keep
it 100% real, which we alwaystry to do with you guys you know
I get quarterly bonuses in myline of work.
We were planning on having mybonus for this quarter pay for
our Christmas trip out of thecountry and now the reality is
(26:59):
is it's going to be paying forBrandon's medical bills and my
crown.
So we understand, like you know, it really feels like it's hard
to get ahead and it's hard tokeep the plans.
You know what is it Life, belifin'.
Life be lifin' the best laidplans, you know I mean, you make
the plans and they fall apart.
(27:20):
So we understand that, justlike everybody else, and yes,
there are options out there.
But do your due diligence,request the detailed bills, push
back, ask for assistance, askquestions.
There are people in thesefacilities, in these hospitals,
who are there to advocate onyour behalf and to answer
(27:40):
questions that are unclear toyou, and it's really important
for you to feel comfortableunderstanding all that has
happened before you start payingthose bills.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Yeah, make sure you're exploring your options.
That's the biggest thing isexploring your options and
understand the pros and cons ofthose various options.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Absolutely so.
If you are also facing thechallenges of paying for medical
bills, we are right there withyou, sending you a big hug.
Happy healing.
Hopefully this episode has beenhelpful and we will talk to you
soon, Don't forget.
Benjamin Franklin said aninvestment in knowledge pays the
(28:18):
best interest.
You just got paid.
Until next time.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Sugar Daddy Podcast.
Yo Learn how to make thempockets grow.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Financial freedom's where we go Smart investments,
money flow.
Thanks for listening to today'sepisode.
We are so glad to have you aspart of our Sugar Daddy
community.
If you learned something today,please remember to subscribe,
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Don't forget to connect with uson social media at the Sugar
(28:48):
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Speaker 2 (29:01):
Our content is intended to be used, and must be
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This episode is sponsored by Prenupscom.
The truth is, every marriedcouple has a prenup a set of
rules that defines your legaland financial relationship with
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You either choose your ownrules or use what your state
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(00:22):
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(00:44):
Over 100 million Americans arestruggling with medical debt,
but what happens when that debtends up on your credit card?
Today, we are going to talkabout the hidden dangers of
using credit cards to pay foryour medical bills, If that's of
(01:09):
interest, Stay tuned.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Hey babe, what are we talking about today?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Today we are talking about paying your medical bills
on a credit card, and it's sucha timely conversation because,
literally as we're recordingthis, you're sitting here with
your little boot on your littleknee scooters right next to the
desk.
You're still non-weight bearingfor the next four weeks and
(01:36):
we've got three we're down tothree.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
And when you're, when you're going through with that,
that extra week makes adifference.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Okay, yeah, I mean listen for me too.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
I mean'm ready, like let's do this, let's get you
back functioning for those ofyou don't know um four weeks ago
I tore my achilles tendon andmy right foot, which means that
I cannot drive, and I'm aboutthree weeks now.
I'm three weeks post-op and Igot about another three weeks
before I can hopefully be ableto drive and start pt which
means that I'm essentially asingle parent.
(02:04):
Yep, that's very true.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Brandon has been living downstairs, which we're
grateful that there is a fullbedroom and a full bath with a
walk-in shower downstairs.
He has not been upstairs in ourhouse in three weeks, four
weeks.
Has not helped with anythingthat happens upstairs when you
have children.
So bath times, showers, I meanall the things All that to say
your all the things.
(02:25):
Yeah, all that to say your girlis exhausted.
Okay, yes, I am tired, I istired.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
And in addition to her having to do all the work
and being exhausted, came with anice little $5,000, $6,000 bill
.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Right, which is only because we have health insurance
and we have out-of-pocket max,but also when we were signing
you in.
So the episode came aboutbecause of what we're going to
talk about right now, which iswe signed you in, did the
patient check-in, you were, youknow, getting ready to go back
to surgery and of course, youhave to sign your life away and
you're signing all the medical,you know, information and the
(03:04):
and here's how you're going tobe billed, et cetera, et cetera.
And they put us on a paymentplan, the payment plan because
this was a private hospital.
Of course, we didn't get tochoose where the surgeon
actually performs the surgeries,but it turns out that this is a
private hospital and so thebills, the payment plan that
they put us on is $1,400 a month.
(03:25):
That is a mortgage, that isrent, that is a like.
That to me is not a paymentplan.
I was pissed.
To me, a payment plan is $175 amonth, $230 a month, $65 a
month, not $1,400.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I can't say the silver lining and going to have
the surgery where I had it.
According to all my friendsthat work within the medical
field, they're like it's goodthat you had it there, because
they're like this is an injurythat you really shouldn't have
fixed at.
Like you know, yourquote-unquote traditional
hospital like your rando becausethey don't.
They don't specialize in itlike normally yeah, you went to
an orthopedic surgeon.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I mean, no, of course we want to get you the best
care, but I'm talking about thepayment plan, the $1,400 a month
payment plan.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
And the funny part is is like, just as asking a bunch
of questions, obviously, andshe's like what if you know
someone can't pay this?
And they're like they don'twant the surgery.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
She literally looked at me and she said it's not a
life-threatening surgery andthey just don't get it.
And then she said welcome toAmerica.
I mean, we literally had amoment.
We were standing there, it was,I think there was one other
couple next to us.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
She understood 100% how ridiculous it was, but like,
obviously it's not her rule,Right right and she did.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
It's funny because she even pointed out on the
paperwork you know it has likethe 1400 and then like the the
due dates, because I thinkthere's like I guess, four, yeah
, four monthly assignments orwhatever anyways.
And then I was like this is justcrazy, like this is a crazy
amount of money for a paymentplan.
And so she was like I can'tlegally tell you this, but I'm
(05:01):
gonna point to point to thispiece.
You know, this part on thepiece of paper that basically
was like you have 60 days fromlike the time that you receive
all of the paperwork and ask forthe itemized bill, et cetera,
et cetera, to make your firstpayment.
Aka she was like basicallysaying that there was, you know,
a 60 day buffer that we couldfall under Either way, 60 days
(05:24):
is not going to make adifference when you have a
$1,400 payment.
So obviously Brandon and Istarted trying to figure out
like okay, we're gonna have topay this anyway.
Can we get something for it?
We have some upcoming trips.
You guys know we're prettyDelta loyal, but some of these
trips are gonna be flying adifferent airline.
Do we open up a new card, getsome points, get some miles?
(05:46):
Like we're going to spend themoney anyway.
How do we get something for it?
And so the kind of the researchthat came out of that was if
you can handle it, there mightbe benefit to putting the
medical bills on a credit card,but I think the overarching
theme is you're putting yourselfat risk, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
So basically, at the end of the day, is it a good
idea to pay medical bills with acredit card?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah, so that's what we're going to talk about today.
So that was the longest intro,but we wanted to kind of set the
tone and give you context on.
You know why we were thinkingabout this and honestly, it's
something that affects.
It affects so many of us.
I mean even taking your kidsjust for their annual checkups,
or if somebody has an earinfection on the weekends and
you go to urgent care.
(06:31):
I mean these appointmentsthey're costing an arm and a leg
.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
All right, real quick .
I want to speak to the personlistening who feels like they
can't work with a financialplanner yet because they're
carrying a lot of debt.
First of all, I see you and Ineed you to know.
You're not broken, You're notbehind, You're just in a tough
season.
I created something just foryou because I've had people
reach out who are serious aboutchanging their money story.
But the full financial planningpackage just wasn't the right
(07:01):
fit yet.
So I built a new service throughOak City Financial that's
focused completely on debtreduction no fluff, no shame.
You'll get a one-time planningsession, a personalized payoff
strategy, your own financialdashboard and monthly coaching.
If you want extra support whileyou climb out, it's $300 to get
started and $100 a month.
If you want that ongoingguidance, that's it.
(07:23):
This is about helping you getunstuck, not making you feel
like you failed.
If this sounds like what you'vebeen needing, go ahead and
schedule a call with me.
The link is in the show notes.
Let's take the first steptogether.
Yeah, and the thing is, over100 million Americans have
medical debt, Right, so it islike she said, it affects a lot
(07:45):
of people a third of thepopulation, essentially.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
It's just, it's so sad and it's crippling and it
you know you pay hundreds ofdollars, if not 1000s, a month
for your health insurance andthen you still get slapped with
huge bills.
And then you know we are alsokind of okay, we have the $1,400
a month bill, but then we'restill waiting on the
anesthesiology bill, we're stillwaiting on the lab bill.
We're still waiting, and weknow that these bills are just
(08:11):
going to keep coming for thenext probably three, four, five,
six months, even though wemight be fully paid by then.
Because not everything islinked together, because heaven
forbid one surgery come with onebill.
No, it's going to come from allthese different places.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah, if you've ever, you know, had to have surgery
or anything major happened, yougo to a hospital.
You realize that, oh, like Iwent to one place, maybe I
should get one bill.
No no, everyone's an individualcontractor and you're getting a
bill from here, a bill fromthere, like it's.
Anything is.
If you don't stay on top of it,it's actually really hard to
track.
It's not an easy process.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Yeah.
So one of the big things tocall out.
Let's say you do take the routeof okay, I want to swipe.
Swipe my problems away and putall of this on a credit card,
get your points, get your miles,even if you're not getting
anything for it.
You're just like man.
I'm annoyed.
Let me just kind of quoteunquote get rid of this,
consolidate it.
What you're doing is you'reactually removing the
(09:10):
protections around medical bills, because once you swipe your
card and you put that medicalbill on your credit card, it now
becomes consumer debt.
It is no longer a medicalexpense.
It doesn't matter that thatline item says XYZ hospital, xyz
surgery center, it is now aconsumer debt, just like if you
(09:33):
go to the grocery store, the gasstation, kohl's, walmart, it
doesn't matter.
That is now what it is.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And there's been a lot of changes recently in
regards to how medical debt ishandled.
So, for example, you knowmedical debt no longer shows up
on your credit score, which is ahuge one for a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yes.
So that means that even if youdo end up maybe not making your
payments on time, missing apayment, asking for some sort of
lower payment plan, you don'thave the money at this time.
That comes with legalprotections that the credit card
company is not going to giveyou.
They do not care that this isnow a medical bill that you put
(10:10):
on your credit card.
They are just going to collecttheir interest and it is going
to grow and compound day overday, month over month.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
And the thing in addition to that is that now
that you put on your credit card, if you don't pay it off on
time, then you are now going tohave a high interest rate, more
than likely, and you don't havethe same thing when you have a
payment plan through whereveryou had that medical procedure
done.
So obviously in my scenario itwas a very high payment plan,
(10:40):
but we didn't explore.
There has to be other optionsdown the road or else they don't
get their money.
And once again it's not in yourcredit score either.
So they got to kind of workwith you to deal with this.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
I mean, would you rather have $500 than no dollars
?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah.
Right, Like at some pointpeople are going to pick up the
phone to say I cannot provideyou $1,400.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
You need to work with me.
Capital One is not going towork with you.
That medical facility, you know, is going to eventually have to
.
Sure, they could send you tocollections, but that's going to
take a long time and at the endof the day, that's not going to
guarantee that they get paid.
So they are going to be moreincentivized to work with you,
whereas you know these big banksor even the smaller banks are
not going to care.
Not to mention, most interestrates are 20 plus percent.
(11:29):
So now you have a high medicalbill and you're adding on a very
high interest rate.
If you're not planning onpaying that off in full and that
can be detrimental that willsnowball very quickly.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, and, like I said once again, you've switched
it from medical billing debt toconsumer debt.
That's going to be in yourcredit score.
That can affect so many otheraspects of your life nowadays,
because nowadays you have someemployers that take into account
your credit score.
If you're looking to be hired,even if you're just not trying
to buy a home, if you're tryingto lease, rent an apartment,
they look at your credit score.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Even buying a new phone sometimes.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
So they look at all the.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Opening up your.
You know when you access yournew utilities.
You know when you're connectingyour water and your electricity
, like a lot of times, they willrun your credit as well, so it
can affect so many other aspectsof your life.
Yeah, and depending on how highthe bill is, if you put it on
your credit card, it's going tothen also impact some of the
factors that make up your creditscore, like your credit
(12:28):
utilization, which is the amountof money that you have access
to in comparison to the amountof money that you're actually
using.
You want to keep that creditutilization.
30% or less is ideal, and ifyou don't have a lot of credit
available and now you have a bigbill that you're adding onto a
(12:48):
credit card, your creditutilization is going to go up
and oftentimes that inverts andmakes your score go down.
So you always want to try tostrive for a lower credit
utilization, meaning you have alot of credit available to you
but you're not using it.
That's why it's alwaysimportant to keep your oldest
credit card.
(13:08):
I'm not going to go off on thistangent too long, but keep your
oldest credit card and don'tclose credit cards unless you
absolutely have to, becauseagain, it's going to impact the
amount of credit you haveavailable, which impacts your
credit utilization score.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
And also we are very much well aware of one our
privileged situation where wecan afford to put it on our
credit card and pay it offwithout having to deal with all
these issues.
But for a lot of people itmight be their only option.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
So you know they don't have the money in.
So, for example, when I went tohave my surgery, as you said, I
had to pay something upfront,or the surgery was not happening
that day.
So if somebody didn't have$1,400, then, hey, their credit
card might be the only option inorder to get the care that they
need, and I understand that.
But it can also come with a bigpenalty behind it.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yeah, and this is also just a friendly reminder
Most hospitals, especiallypublic hospitals that are not
private facilities, will havesome sort of payment assistance
programs.
You might have to fill out anapplication, you might have to
get further documentation.
I'm not saying it's not goingto take a little effort and
(14:17):
intentionality on your part, butthere are programs available to
either help you make thepayments and or lower your
payments.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Sorry, I'm not laughing at what you said.
I was just thinking about whatthey were saying in regards to
it's not life-threatening.
Yes, I wasn't going to die, butI couldn't walk properly.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
And then what other problems are you going to cause
by not having the surgery, notbeing able to walk?
I mean, it's just ridiculous Tome.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
It wasn't an optional surgery.
It wasn't like oh, I want to goget a facelift.
Yeah, no, I mean Mike Healy's.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yes, you do.
Um, the other thing that Ithink is important to note, as
we're talking about medicalbills If you can avoid it, don't
make any payments without anitemized statement, because 80%
of medical bills have errors,which means that you're being
(15:11):
overcharged, you're beingmischarged, there are codes that
are going to be on that chartor on that bill that don't even
apply to you.
You need to ask for an itemizedbill and you need to review it,
and then, if you see somethingthat didn't happen, you need to
dispute it, and so that'ssomething that we always
encourage people to do is to askfor an itemized bill and don't
(15:35):
make any payments until that isreceived, and you've looked it
over and you've disputedanything that is on there that
you know is incorrect.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
I think it's also a good call out that the person
who's taking you to the surgeryclue them in to pay attention to
what's going on.
Also Because most of the timeif you're going under you're
going to be a little loopycoming out.
You might not remembereverything that was or was not
given to you.
As compared to someone who'ssitting there can watch what
happened.
It's like, oh you know, thedoctor puts on the bill that
(16:05):
they gave you so-and-so and younever received so-and-so Right.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
And there are, like medical patient advocates as
well.
So maybe, if you don't havesomebody in your family that you
, you know, maybe I don't wantto say trust but maybe isn't
going to be an advocate formaking sure that the bill is
what it should be, you canactually in many cases, request
that somebody step in.
(16:27):
They're like a third party.
They're typically notassociated with the hospital.
They really are there toadvocate on the behalf of the
patient, to make sure that thecharges are correct and that the
payment terms are also in linewith what suits your needs to
the best of you know theabilities that they, that they
can.
Let's talk about the HSAs andFSAs when available.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I know those are accounts we've talked about in
the past.
Yeah, so the idea here is thatwith better options available.
Obviously, some of theseoptions you have to think about
beforehand to put them in place,but maybe what are some of the
better moves that you can makethat, if you do encounter having
to have a high medical bill,that you're better equipped to
handle it.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Yeah, we don't have an HSA or an FSA at this time.
One of the things that we werelooking at is getting a 0% offer
for a credit card that has anextended kind of term limit.
A credit card that has anextended kind of term limit, so
one that we're looking at rightnow is through December 2026,
(17:30):
which would give us almost ayear and a half, which is quite
a lot, I mean given, kind of 18months is normally going to be
the max I've ever seen for a 0%.
I get six month offers and ninemonth offers all the time, but
this one when I saw December2026, I was like, oh, that is
much better than $1,400 a month,right?
So then the idea would be wepay the full balance again after
(17:54):
reviewing the itemized bill,etc.
Etc.
And then we can make smallerpayments for the next 18 months
instead of taking $1,400 a month.
And applying it.
But really that only makessense on a 0% interest credit
card.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And I also want to explain in more detail that
thought process for us.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
So, instead of taking $5,000 or $6,000 out of our
savings to simply pay foreverything right now, we want to
provide ourselves with someflexibility, because we do have
the money there, if needed, tojust go ahead and plop it down
and pay it.
But if we could spread thepayments out over 18 months
instead?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
That puts more money in our pockets and our money to
grow For us it's just a matterof flexibility.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Like I said, the reason that we went ahead with
the idea of putting it on thecredit card is because we have
the cash to pay it off.
That's the biggest thing youneed to think about.
We have the money to pay it off.
That's the biggest thing youneed to think about.
We have the money to pay it offbefore any type of interest
would kick in.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Well, but also we don't want to if.
If for some reason like let'ssay, somebody's bill is $5,000
and they have $5,000 in theiremergency fund, we don't want
you to take the $5,000 out ofyour emergency fund to pay the
bill Depends, oh gosh.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
The reason I say it depends, because if you're
someone that doesn't have thediscipline to, if you have a
credit card to put on the creditcard and make sure that you pay
it off before any type ofinterest kicks in, then you
probably should just go aheadand use that $5,000.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
But then they have no more emergency fund.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
But that's what an emergency fund is for.
Emergency fund is for.
Emergency fund is for anemergency.
You don't want to slidebackwards.
So if you put on the creditcard and you don't pay it off
properly now, you're starting toaccrue interest on it.
Ultimately, you're going to endup paying more well, yes, okay,
we don't want you to pay moreobviously, so that's what I'm
saying yes, but I think you haveto have the discipline and a
plan in place to make sure that,if you are going to use a
(19:43):
credit card, that you you arepaying it off before any of that
20% interest kicks in.
Yeah, because, once again, whatwe said also, too, is that all
the other things we stated thatcome with putting on your credit
card and not paying it off isnot just the interest you have,
the credit utilization, and alsohow it's consumer debt, not
medical debt.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Right, so you lose those potential protections and
it could negatively affect yourscore.
Correct, got it?
Yeah, all right.
Well, these are things too,just as a call out that you help
your clients with, right?
I think so many people thinkthat you're just like you know,
you've got 16 screens in frontof you and like you're looking
like he's not day trading, right, these are the things that
people come to you about all thetime, like, oh, I got in a car
(20:22):
accident.
I need to buy a new car.
Do I buy the car that I reallywant because I can afford it, or
do I buy, you know, a car thatis going to be covered by you
know, whatever the insurance isgoing to give me?
Like, you have these real worldconversations, and this is one
of them.
Medical debt affects so manypeople.
Like your child might have anemergency surgery.
(20:44):
You might have an emergencysurgery.
Like things happen, and I thinkit's really important to note
that, working with a financialadvisor or the Brandons of the
world or just straight up,brandon, these are the things
that his clients bring to himall the time.
Hey, can I do that bathroomrenovation?
I really want that new closetinstalled.
That's going to cost $10,000.
(21:05):
Can I do this hardscapingaround my house?
Those are the real worldscenarios that you're helping
people figure out all the time.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Yeah, and when it comes to medical bills, you know
, one of the biggest things thatcome up to me is having a baby,
always.
So it's one understanding thosescenarios, like understanding
what type of what your insuranceentails, because the biggest
thing there is that in a givenyear, if you're going to have a
baby, you're going to reach yourout-of-pocket max.
So therefore, I can alreadytell you the maximum that you're
(21:36):
going to pay in that given yearfor having the baby.
In addition to that, once wefind out, you know, early on,
then we can start to, you know,build up a buffer over the few
months leading up into youactually having delivery, as far
as having money to handle thatyou know, so sitting down with
someone and having theseconversations so that you can
put a proper plan and strategyinto place so that you don't
have to put these medical billsyou know, obviously this one's
(21:59):
more a planned one so you don'thave to put it on your credit
card, but obviously you havesome scenarios where accidents
happen, like myself.
But you can start putting thesestrategies in place so that you
have a plan in place.
You know, kind of going back tothe HSA and FSA, you know, if
you're someone that is in a highdeductible health plan and you
have access to an HSA throughyour employer, especially if
(22:20):
your employer is going toprovide some money into your HSA
for you as far as a match, Iwant to recommend taking
advantage of that because that'sallowing you to set aside money
that is going to be going tothere and not pay taxes on, and
if you use it for medical billsyou don't have to pay any taxes
on it and you also have youremployer adding to it.
So it adds to the bucket thatyou have to handle these medical
bills in case you do have anaccident come up.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yeah, or even better, if your clients are talking to
you about these things when theyhave planned surgeries coming
up before open enrollment hey, Iknow, I need to do this foot
operation.
Open enrollment is around thecorner.
I think I should change mymedical plan.
Here's what that would looklike.
So those are, I think, reallyimportant conversations.
Obviously, yours was more of anemergent situation, even though
(23:04):
the lady tried to tell us it'snot life-threatening which it's
not, but it happened.
And now we're over here alsojust having the conversations on
what do we do, how do we makeit work, how do we pay this off?
We don't want to pay $1,400 amonth, you know.
And so all that to say.
We're in the thick of it, justlike everybody else, and we want
(23:26):
to just provide resources andcontext for how to navigate
these situations to the best ofour abilities.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
And also some of the other options too, other than
just swiping your credit card.
So if you have these optionsavailable to you for example,
often with the payment plansthat most hospitals offer have a
0% or a low interest rateattached to them, and the
payments are actually much morefeasible for you to make on a
monthly basis.
So in those scenarios,especially on a 0% interest, it
(23:55):
makes way more sense to go thatroute than to swipe with your
credit card.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yes.
Yes absolutely, or even I knowevery time I go I went to the
dentist the other day, you knowthey always have.
They have like their own creditcard and payment option where
you could have two years 0%.
You know, again, it is now acredit card, but if you're
getting it interest free itmight be something to consider.
You know, like I have to get acrown, that's going to be
(24:20):
another $1,100.
So it's all the things.
It's all the things.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
And also kind of going back to the whole thing
with one making sure you have anitemized bill to um make sure
that everything is correct.
Sometimes you can negotiatestuff as well, not necessarily
hard set, because I could tellyou this much that a procedure
in different areas has differentcosts associated with it yes,
and there's um, you know,reasonable.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
What is it called reasonable cost?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
yes, um, I know you're talking about.
I'm sorry we'll.
I'm sorry We'll put it in theshow notes, but they have to
give you a reasonable idea ofwhat the surgery is actually
going to cost you all in priorto what happening.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Right, and then you can do the research and you can
basically say this is not areasonable price.
Like, how are you, you know,increasing the price 30% from
what the rest of the country ischarging for, something like
this?
So you know there's there's alot of nuance to medical bills
and medical debt and how medicalbills are.
(25:17):
You know how they come intoplay.
And so research and holdingthese institutions accountable,
getting the itemized bills, etcetera, is really, really
important.
You cannot just take things atface value.
You have to ask for the detailsand then look them over.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Also, a lot of people don't realize that there is
such thing as medical bill loans, so that is an option also
available to you if needed, andoften the terms of that is going
to be significantly better thanputting it on your credit card,
because the interest rates aregoing to be lower.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
And again, it's still considered medical debt and not
consumer debt.
What I think we want to leaveyou with out of all the things
is, once you put it on a creditcard, it is no longer medical
debt.
It is now consumer debt.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yeah, debt, yeah.
So even if you're in you know,maybe a hard situation, you do
need to take a step back andmaybe think through the process
on how you're going to pay forthat medical bill Because, for
example, if it's an emergencyand it needs to happen right
then and there you're not goingto have a bill right that second
, because it's an emergency lifeor threatening.
They're going to do theprocedure to save your life or
(26:27):
whatever needs to be done, butthen you're going to have to
think through afterwards what isthe best course of action for
me to handle this debt.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Right, yeah, we know it sucks, we know it's terrible,
we know it feels awful and,honestly, you know, just to keep
it 100% real, which we alwaystry to do with you guys you know
I get quarterly bonuses in myline of work.
We were planning on having mybonus for this quarter pay for
our Christmas trip out of thecountry and now the reality is
(26:59):
is it's going to be paying forBrandon's medical bills and my
crown.
So we understand, like you know, it really feels like it's hard
to get ahead and it's hard tokeep the plans.
You know what is it Life, belifin'.
Life be lifin' the best laidplans, you know I mean, you make
the plans and they fall apart.
(27:20):
So we understand that, justlike everybody else, and yes,
there are options out there.
But do your due diligence,request the detailed bills, push
back, ask for assistance, askquestions.
There are people in thesefacilities, in these hospitals,
who are there to advocate onyour behalf and to answer
(27:40):
questions that are unclear toyou, and it's really important
for you to feel comfortableunderstanding all that has
happened before you start payingthose bills.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Yeah, make sure you're exploring your options.
That's the biggest thing isexploring your options and
understand the pros and cons ofthose various options.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Absolutely so.
If you are also facing thechallenges of paying for medical
bills, we are right there withyou, sending you a big hug.
Happy healing.
Hopefully this episode has beenhelpful and we will talk to you
soon, Don't forget.
Benjamin Franklin said aninvestment in knowledge pays the
(28:18):
best interest.
You just got paid.
Until next time.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Sugar Daddy Podcast.
Yo Learn how to make thempockets grow.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Financial freedom's where we go Smart investments,
money flow.
Thanks for listening to today'sepisode.
We are so glad to have you aspart of our Sugar Daddy
community.
If you learned something today,please remember to subscribe,
rate, review and share thisepisode with your friends,
family and extended network.
Don't forget to connect with uson social media at the Sugar
(28:48):
Daddy podcast.
You can also email us yourquestions you want us to answer
for our past the sugar segmentsat the sugar daddy podcast at
gmailcom or leave us a voicemailthrough our Instagram.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Our content is intended to be used, and must be
used, for informationalpurposes only.
It is very important to do yourown analysis before making any
investment, based upon your ownpersonal circumstances.
You should take independentfinancial advice from a licensed
professional in connection withor independently research and
verify any information you findin our podcast and wish to rely
upon, whether for the purpose ofmaking an investment decision
or otherwise.
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