When my then fiancee had brain surgery, her insurance covered most of it and the hospital put her on a reasonable payment plan for the rest. We were only engaged at the time so she was responsible for her own medical bills. Now that we're married I don't mind pitching in. I wouldn't be much of a husband if I left her swimming in medical debt. Splitting the payments is the equivalent of a cable bill.
A few weeks ago, somebody stole her credit card info. Her bank caught it early and canceled the transaction. They also issued her a new card. She needed to update her automatic payments and, in the confusion, forgot to update her account with the hospital. The next payment did not process because of that and the hospital handed her account over to a collections agency. I don't know why she wasn't informed when the first payment didn't go through. Now we're on the hook for several thousand dollars. She called the hospital and explained what happened so they took off one-third of the total sum. Still, we have to make a hefty payment in the next month. We'll be okay but that is nearly all my excess cash for April. I've spent the past two years paying down my credit card and now I'll have to put that on hold.
Oh, and another thing. I put her on my premium health insurance plan (MUCH better than her HMO) at the start of the academic year. It's so much more flexible and has paid for itself several times over. She's around little kids all day and they're always getting her sick. Our copay is only $20 as opposed to the $250 her old plan charged. She needed to get an allergy test and that's extremely hard for teachers to set up. Their schedules tend to not allow it. After taking half a day off and going through a painful process of getting jabbed with 40 needles, the doctor told her she'd have to come in a couple more times. She had wanted to get it all done at once, but my insurance company changed the rule two weeks ago. Not cool!
