Hey, this is Chris Arnold and you're listening to NPR's Life Kit.

This episode is all about dealing with medical debt, which is of course a huge, huge issue if you're

stuck in this situation with medical debt. We just want to note that this was created before COVID-19,

which doesn't really matter because we still have great expert advice that's just as relevant as

when we recorded this and that hopefully will be a really big help to you at this time. And here it is.

You go to the doctor because you want to be healthier and feel better, right? But for millions of

people in this country, there is a really bad side effect. And we're not talking like the list

of side effects you hear on those pharmaceutical commercials. They result in massive bleeding,

wanting headaches, excessive trimel, night sweats, wrestling's legs and drum warts.

This side effects arrives in your mailbox and it can be just as painful.

For two years, I would wake up in the middle of the night thinking, oh my god, I'm going to have to pay

$64,000. I'm, you know, I'm screwed. Medical bills can be outrageously high. And when those bills

turn into debts that you can't afford to pay back, talk about headaches. If you don't pay this,

we're going to come after you. They just kept coming in and another said 200. They said they were

going to take me to court. I started using credit cards to pay for prescriptions, physical therapy.

And then another was like 900. And I was like, why? Why? What is this come from? I was absolutely

terrified. Most of my cards are now almost maxed out. This is a huge problem. One in five working

Americans who have insurance still say that they have trouble paying their medical bills. But the

good news is, if you're struggling with medical debt or helping a parents or a family member,

there are things that you can do like negotiating the debt down by a lot to something that you can

afford. You know, sometimes negotiating medical debt issues, it's not something you need a law

degree for. You just have to kind of be a pest. This is your NPR life kit for getting out of debt

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