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Speaker 1: Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel and today I'm

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Speaker 1: discussing knowing your rights and crushing your medical bills with

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Speaker 1: Jared Walker. All right, so there are millions of Americans

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Speaker 1: declaring bankruptcy or stuck on payment plans for bills they

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Speaker 1: never should have had to pay. That's actually a line.

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Speaker 1: That's a quote from my guest today, and it perfectly

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Speaker 1: sums up the medical debt crisis overuse term, but in

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Speaker 1: this case, it fits that we're facing right now in America,

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Speaker 1: and medical debt is the number one cause of bankruptcy.

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Speaker 1: It's a huge source of stress for individuals and families

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Speaker 1: across the country. Here's the part that really guts me

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Speaker 1: and gets me every time I see the statistic. Every

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Speaker 1: year patients are billed fourteen billion dollars in medical debt.

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Speaker 1: This should have been wiped out under existing hospital finance

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Speaker 1: assistance rules. This debt is it's not inevitable either, right,

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Speaker 1: It's it's just unnecessary in a lot of ways. And

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Speaker 1: so that's why I'm thrilled to have Jared Walker here.

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Speaker 1: He's the founder of Dollar four. It's an organization helping

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Speaker 1: people crush hospital bills that they don't legally owe and

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Speaker 1: so since twenty twelve, Dollar four has helped eliminate more

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Speaker 1: than one hundred and twenty five million dollars in medical

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Speaker 1: debt nationwide. They're making a big difference in something where

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Speaker 1: folks need a lot of help. So, Jared, thanks so

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Speaker 1: much for joining me today on the show.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it,

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Speaker 2: of course.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So first question ask everybody who joins me is

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Speaker 1: what do you like to suplurge on? Because you know,

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Speaker 1: while you're doing that smart stuff with your money, you

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Speaker 1: still got to have an outlet and here and now right,

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Speaker 1: So mine's craft beer. What's your craft beer equivalent?

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Speaker 3: The splurge for my wife and I is hosting. We

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Speaker 3: like to have people over, We like to make dinner,

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Speaker 3: we like to host have a meal with our friends, family,

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Speaker 3: loved ones, and you know, make it special in some way.

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Speaker 3: I host a book club once a month, and I

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Speaker 3: kind of go all out on that as well. So

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Speaker 3: I would say anything hosting bringing people together at the house.

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Speaker 1: Okay, giving some insight then, because my wife and I

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Speaker 1: no special reason, but we were just like, we're dying

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Speaker 1: to have some folks over to the house. Have like

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Speaker 1: a little dinner party, and I have leaned into I've

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Speaker 1: told said this on the podcast already, but it's the

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Speaker 1: year of Rum for me. I read a book about rum,

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Speaker 1: and I make some rum punch and I even like

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Speaker 1: went on Facebook Marketplace and bought an old punch bowl,

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Speaker 1: vintage punch bowl that I'm super excited to bring out.

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Speaker 1: Do you have any hosting tips for me? How am

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Speaker 1: I gonna wow or make this a memorable experience for

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Speaker 1: my friends?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like you've already done it.

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Speaker 3: You've got a special you got a special I mean

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Speaker 3: anything that So like, I'm hosting a book club in

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Speaker 3: a couple of days and we just read a book

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Speaker 3: from a Russian author, So I'm doing the whole thing,

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Speaker 3: Russian food. I'm doing like the whole the whole thing.

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Speaker 3: So I feel like you're already there. You already got

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Speaker 3: a special punch bowl, You already got a special thing.

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Speaker 1: You gotta have a theme, though it sounds like some

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Speaker 1: sort of theme consistency.

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Speaker 3: Well yeah, I mean again, it could be a theme

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Speaker 3: or even just I mean, a couple of nights ago

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Speaker 3: we hosted. We had Mexican food and we played banana

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Speaker 3: grams and we just did that for hours, so it

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Speaker 3: doesn't I mean, as long as you've got I think

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Speaker 3: that that's one of the things is like have something

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Speaker 3: to do. A lot of times it's like, oh, you

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Speaker 3: want to come over, and like people come over, they eat,

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Speaker 3: and then it's just kind of like you're chilling. I

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Speaker 3: don't know, create some structure. People like that, So that

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Speaker 3: that would be that would be my tip.

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Speaker 2: I don't know.

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Speaker 1: Okay, all right, No, I appreciate it.

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Speaker 2: I appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: That's especially as my kids are getting a little bit older,

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Speaker 1: it feels like hosting is becoming a little less daunting

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Speaker 1: because I was like, I don't want my friends to

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Speaker 1: come over stepping on all the legos and most.

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Speaker 2: Have Lego night, Lego night. There you go. All right,

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Speaker 2: we've done that.

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Speaker 1: Okay, all right, that sounds good. I like that you could. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I can be super down to earth, and it also

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Speaker 1: doesn't have to be terribly expensive, but it does take

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Speaker 1: some thought, I think to make it special and memorable.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's get to what I want to talk

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Speaker 1: about on the show today and what you spend most

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Speaker 1: of your days thinking about and trying to help other

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Speaker 1: people with, and which is medical debt. But really this

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Speaker 1: whole thing kicked off with like a personal experience with

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Speaker 1: family medical bills. That's kind of part of your origin story.

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Speaker 1: Can you like give us some insight, take us back

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Speaker 1: to was it twenty twelve?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so it was twenty twelve when I had the

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Speaker 3: idea of dollar four And you know, I grew up

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Speaker 3: in Portland, Oregon, so originally dollar four was dollar for Portland,

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Speaker 3: and it was very local, community based, very grassroots. So

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Speaker 3: I watched my own family go through a medical emergency.

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Speaker 3: My wife and I were sitting at home. She got

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Speaker 3: a phone call her aunt had passed away from cancer.

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Speaker 3: A couple of minutes later, I got a phone call

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Speaker 3: my cousin had gone into labor seven weeks premature baby

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Speaker 3: needed a heart surgery to live. And it was like

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Speaker 3: same day, same hour. Both of our families were hit

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Speaker 3: with these emergencies, and I just remember a big conversation

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Speaker 3: was like, well, how are we going to pay for it?

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Speaker 2: What's it going to cost?

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Speaker 3: And you know, I'm like twenty four at the time,

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Speaker 3: and just this is like my first run in with

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Speaker 3: the US healthcare system. Frustrated that that's the reality, like

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Speaker 3: when you have a big or even a small medical emergency,

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Speaker 3: it usually turns out to be a financial emergency for

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Speaker 3: a lot of people, and I wanted to help people

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Speaker 3: in that situation. So I started really just like crowdfunding.

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Speaker 3: Basic crowdfunding would do these small events you mentioned, you

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Speaker 3: know beer, We did tons of events at all the

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Speaker 3: breweries in Portland, you know, breweries, coffee shops, music venues,

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Speaker 3: and we would do these small grassroots fundraising events and

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Speaker 3: pool the money together and every month we would pay

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Speaker 3: medical bills for someone in our community.

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Speaker 2: So that's how it starts.

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Speaker 3: Did and you know, the organization has has shifted over time,

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Speaker 3: but it had It really started with that, like, yeah,

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Speaker 3: that realization that a lot of people, you know, have

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Speaker 3: a pretty big financial emergency anytime they have to go

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Speaker 3: to the hospital for something unexpected.

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Speaker 1: And one of the things you realize, though you said

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Speaker 1: it started as crowdfunding. I found that so interesting. For

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Speaker 1: the first many years of the organization's existence, it was

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Speaker 1: that local grassroots, let's raise money, let's do some crowdfunding.

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Speaker 1: But then you stumbled upon the realization that wait a second,

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Speaker 1: actually a lot of the bill the money we're raising

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Speaker 1: to pay off some of these medical bills. We don't

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Speaker 1: even need to do that. There are like methods in

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Speaker 1: place where we can get these bills forgiven instead of

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Speaker 1: even raising money from friends in the community.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was you know, it was a moment in

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Speaker 3: aha moment, but also like rage because you know, I

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Speaker 3: had helped all these families by raising money and then

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Speaker 3: paying the hospitals for bills that should have been waived

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Speaker 3: and eligible for these programs.

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Speaker 2: I just had no idea.

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Speaker 3: So, you know, in about twenty twenty, I connected with

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Speaker 3: an attorney Eli, who's now our you know, director of

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Speaker 3: policy and general counsel at Dollar four. But he was

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Speaker 3: telling me, you know, hey, have you ever heard of

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Speaker 3: Hospital financial assistance Hospital charitycare? So there's you know, there's

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Speaker 3: a federal law that requires hospitals to have these programs

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Speaker 3: and if you are within a certain income range, they

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Speaker 3: actually have to reduce or completely eliminate your hospital bills

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Speaker 3: if you meet the criteria and you've felt the application.

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Speaker 3: The problem is that all these hospitals don't tell people

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Speaker 3: about the programs or they make it really really difficult

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Speaker 3: to apply. And you know, I wanted to jump in

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Speaker 3: and just see like what is this all about? It

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Speaker 3: kind of sounded too good to be true for me,

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Speaker 3: So I started jumping in and reading these policies and

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Speaker 3: filling out applications, and in a few months I got

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Speaker 3: like a million dollars in medical debt to disappear for

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Speaker 3: people in Portland by just knowing my way around the paperwork.

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Speaker 3: So that was kind of when I was like, Okay,

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Speaker 3: we got to stop doing this crowdfunding stuff. Let me

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Speaker 3: like lean into this and then you know, kind of

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Speaker 3: blew it from there.

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Speaker 1: Far more efficient and you know, far less of an

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Speaker 1: onus on the community which wants to care for its people.

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Speaker 1: But you're like, gosh, if there's these policies in place,

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Speaker 1: instead of raising money, let's let's lead into this which

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Speaker 1: makes total sense. Can you give me like an over

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Speaker 1: you talk about I mentioned that headline fourteen billion dollars

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Speaker 1: in medical debt. That really represents millions and millions and

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Speaker 1: millions of Americans who have had run into the medical

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Speaker 1: system right They've had their credit dinged, higher levels of

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Speaker 1: stress because of a bill hanging over their head. Can

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Speaker 1: you like maybe paint the picture anymore for me for

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Speaker 1: our listeners of of what what this? You know, insane

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Speaker 1: amount of medical debt that exists in the United States means.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, we we do we do surveys with patients.

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Speaker 3: We asked questions, you know, what is the elimination of

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Speaker 3: this medical debt? What does that mean for you? So

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Speaker 3: for a lot of people, and we see this a

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Speaker 3: lot of time in our patient stories, is you know,

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Speaker 3: I didn't have to drop out of college, Like a

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Speaker 3: lot of people stop their education because they got to

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Speaker 3: pay a medical bill. A lot of people don't make

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Speaker 3: their rent on time, a lot of people don't pay

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Speaker 3: their utility bill, a lot of people, you know, we

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Speaker 3: have it was like twenty seven percent of patients said, hey,

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Speaker 3: I was able to buy better quality food because I

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Speaker 3: didn't have to pay this medical bill. So, you know,

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Speaker 3: medical debt is kind of the tip of the iceberg.

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Speaker 3: Everything below that is like, you know, what allows people

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Speaker 3: to kind of thrive in life. And when you have

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Speaker 3: this surprise ten thousand dollars medical bill, a lot of

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Speaker 3: that is stripped away and can be a pretty big

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Speaker 3: hole to dig yourself out of. So, you know, just

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Speaker 3: to paint a little bit more of that picture, like, yeah,

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Speaker 3: it it might look like a medical bill, but it

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Speaker 3: impacts every aspect of people's lives.

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Speaker 1: There was a talk for a while about like disallowing

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Speaker 1: small medical bills from impacting consumer credit scores credit scores

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Speaker 1: and then staying on the credit report in general. The

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Speaker 1: more I thought, at first, I was like, Oh, that's great,

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Speaker 1: Like small medical bills won't hound people, they won't bother people,

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Speaker 1: they won't negatively impact their credit. But then I started

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Speaker 1: thinking about the amount, and I'm like five hundred bucks. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: who has a medical bill that's less than five hundred bucks?

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Speaker 1: The charge like three hundred dollars from one id beprofen

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Speaker 1: when you go to the hospital these days, So how

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Speaker 1: much of an impact is that really having? Because even

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Speaker 1: though it's not federal law currently, I believe the credit

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Speaker 1: bureaus are still like they're not putting, they're not reporting

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Speaker 1: right those smaller medical bills. But does that make any difference?

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Speaker 1: Are there any medical bills below five hundred bucks these days?

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Speaker 3: You know that I would say anything helps like in

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Speaker 3: that direction, But yeah, you're right, a lot of these

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Speaker 3: a lot of these medical bills are higher than five

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Speaker 3: hundred dollars. So I think that the two rules that

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Speaker 3: went in place with that were medical bills under five

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Speaker 3: hundred dollars can't impact your credit. And then medical bills

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Speaker 3: that are a year old or less than a year old,

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Speaker 3: and it used to be six months, So I think

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Speaker 3: that that does help a little bit. And then you know,

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Speaker 3: they tried to do no medical bills will impact your credit.

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Speaker 3: That was overturned with the new administration, and you know,

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Speaker 3: I think that that that's a big one. Like I

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Speaker 3: think that, you know, I'm of the mind, like, hey,

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Speaker 3: people don't really choose this debt, you know, with with

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Speaker 3: hospital bills, they shouldn't impact you know, you shouldn't not

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Speaker 3: be able to buy a home because you had cancer

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Speaker 3: ten years ago. Like that's messed up. So you know,

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Speaker 3: it's something that we continue to advocate for. And I

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Speaker 3: would say every little bit helps, But yeah, you're right,

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Speaker 3: the five hundred dollars price tag is not a lot

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Speaker 3: of medical bills.

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Speaker 2: It's usually higher.

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Speaker 1: Go back to that date where you kind of realized,

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Speaker 1: wait a second, there's any and there are these systems

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Speaker 1: in place, these policies in place that can help people

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Speaker 1: receive forgiveness for a medical debt. Does the average patient

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Speaker 1: underestimate the aid they can receive after they get a bill?

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Speaker 1: And you mentioned that hospitals to just don't make this

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Speaker 1: information apparent much as much of the time too, do

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Speaker 1: hospitals have any obligation to let their patients know? Wait

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Speaker 1: a second, actually you don't. Wait how much money do

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Speaker 1: you make, how big is your family size? You might

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Speaker 1: not actually owe this bill in the first place.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so I would say now that there's a little

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Speaker 3: bit better protections. But let me go back to twenty twenty.

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Speaker 3: You know, the law is pretty vague. It's like you

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Speaker 3: have to have a policy, and the policy has to

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Speaker 3: be widely publicized and widely available.

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Speaker 2: So what does that mean?

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Speaker 3: And a lot of hospitals say, well, we've got a

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Speaker 3: poster in the er, and we've got a website, you know,

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Speaker 3: a web page somewhere.

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Speaker 1: So it is why that page is like to the

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Speaker 1: search engines, right, and so like you google that for

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Speaker 1: your local hospital, you can't find it. Well, it exists

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Speaker 1: on the website. It's just impossible for the average person

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Speaker 1: to find.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's you know, it's like this by design.

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Speaker 3: I think that you know, if a hospital can get

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Speaker 3: you to pay some money, they want you to pay

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Speaker 3: some money, even if you are eligible for these programs,

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Speaker 3: and the yeah, there's not a lot of effort put

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Speaker 3: in to helping patients find.

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Speaker 2: These programs.

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Speaker 3: So when I found out about them, I was just

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Speaker 3: shouting from the rooftops.

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Speaker 2: I'm telling everybody. I'm like, hey, did you know this?

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Speaker 2: You know this? You know?

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Speaker 1: And we had like convincing people to get injured so

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Speaker 1: they could go to the hospital, so they could get

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Speaker 1: a bill, so they could get a forgiven.

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Speaker 3: Right, I'm like, I just want to test this out,

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Speaker 3: like yeah, And it really was. I remember, yeah, I

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Speaker 3: was at a restaurant. I heard the bartender saying, you know, oh, yeah,

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Speaker 3: I had to go to the er. They had like

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Speaker 3: a brace on their wrist or whatever. I had to

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Speaker 3: go to the er, and I was like, I you know,

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Speaker 3: ran over. I was like, hey, like let me see

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Speaker 3: if I can take care of this. And I was

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Speaker 3: able to do, like you know, it was something that

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Speaker 3: I was just really excited about, like can I get

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Speaker 3: this to work? And I was trying to get the

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Speaker 3: word out and it wasn't until the beginning of twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty one. I actually posted a TikTok video that told people, hey,

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Speaker 3: this is what charitycare is, this is how you can

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Speaker 3: access it. If you need help shoot me a message

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Speaker 3: in that video ended up getting like thirty million views

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Speaker 3: and just exploding the organization. But again, I always tell

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Speaker 3: people like, well, why was that video is so popular?

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Speaker 3: It's because nobody knew about the program. It was like,

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Speaker 3: it was shocking to people, especially if you are a

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Speaker 3: person that has declared bankruptcy in the past, or gone

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Speaker 3: on a payment plan for years or dropped out of school,

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Speaker 3: and then you realize like, I shouldn't even have had

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Speaker 3: to pay that. So I think that there was a

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Speaker 3: lot of like collective frustration with the system and I

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Speaker 3: can't you know, they're kind of always is with our

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Speaker 3: healthcare system.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 1: Some people assume too that a no nonprofit hospital system

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Speaker 1: should approach patients differently than for profit hospital systems. That's

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Speaker 1: not always the case, right, They're not always even more generous.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Unfortunately, you know, there's been a couple studies that

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Speaker 3: have shown that some of the for profit systems actually

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Speaker 3: give more charity care than the nonprofit systems. And yeah,

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Speaker 3: I think that, you know, you have a hospital that

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Speaker 3: is tax exempt and their you know, religious based or whatever,

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Speaker 3: and it's like, oh, they should be doing more in

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Speaker 3: the communities, and you know, there's a there's an interesting

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Speaker 3: phrase here with hospitals, they talk about community benefit. They say, oh, well,

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Speaker 3: you know, our community benefit numbers are really really high.

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Speaker 3: Look at our community benefit. But then you kind of

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Speaker 3: look at like, well, what are you counting as community benefit?

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Speaker 3: Because the number one thing should be charity care and

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Speaker 3: a lot of times it's not.

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Speaker 2: So Yeah, I think that.

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Speaker 3: There is people view this as like they should kind

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Speaker 3: of be held to a higher standard and there should

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Speaker 3: be a little bit of accountability with it, but there

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Speaker 3: there really isn't.

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Speaker 1: Talk about the financial assistance policies because this again is

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Speaker 1: kind of at the heart of what dollar four is

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Speaker 1: all about is helping people, make people aware, helping them

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Speaker 1: fight for what they are owed. Essentially under these policies

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Speaker 1: that exist from different hospital systems. Are they similar across

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Speaker 1: different hospitals. What percentage of folks typically qualify for this

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Speaker 1: financial systems assistance? And do more people qualify than assume

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Speaker 1: they would Someone who's like, you know what, I make

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Speaker 1: a pretty good living. I'm assuming like I just knoww

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Speaker 1: this bill because I'm not living on a razor's edge financially,

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Speaker 1: I probably don't qualify, right that's probably that's what a

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Speaker 1: lot of people assume it would They assume that correctly.

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Speaker 2: Great questions. It's like, okay, what is this all about?

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Speaker 3: The I would say hospital financial assistance is similar throughout

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Speaker 3: the country, but every hospital is going to have their

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Speaker 3: own policy, their own application. None of it is like standardized.

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Speaker 3: So what do they care about? They care about your

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Speaker 3: household size and your income. They want to know how

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Speaker 3: much money you make and then they want you to

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Speaker 3: prove it. So, on average, in America, if you are

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Speaker 3: a family of four and you make under one hundred

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Speaker 3: thousand dollars gross annual income, you are eligible for some

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Speaker 3: type of discount and sometimes even complete waiver of your

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Speaker 3: medical bills. So I would say a lot of people

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Speaker 3: disqualify themselves. They say, you know, I'm not eligible for Medicaid,

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Speaker 3: or I didn't qualify for food Stamp, so I'm not going.

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Speaker 2: To be eligible for this.

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Speaker 3: These programs are much more generous than those other programs.

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Speaker 3: And I always tell people it takes like two seconds

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Speaker 3: to see if you're eligible.

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Speaker 2: Just check.

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Speaker 1: You essentially check your what AGI from your previous tax return,

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Speaker 1: and that's what you have to submit to the hospital anyway, Right,

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Speaker 1: in order to qualify and have that forgiveness go through.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so you would if if you're going directly with

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Speaker 3: the hospital, you would ask for that application, fill the application,

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Speaker 3: attach your proof of income, which normally they want to

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Speaker 3: see three months of pay dubs, tax return something like that,

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Speaker 3: and then you would send that in and they would

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Speaker 3: verify it and then they would, yeah, reduce the bill

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Speaker 3: or eliminate it, depending on.

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Speaker 2: You know where you fall.

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Speaker 3: But if you're in the Pacific Northwest, all hospitals in

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Speaker 3: Oregon Washington will waive one hundred percent of your medical

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Speaker 3: bills if you are at or below three hundred percent

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Speaker 3: of the federal poverty guidelines. So that's that like one

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Speaker 3: hundred k ish number. But then they have a sliding

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Speaker 3: scale discount all the way up to four hundred percent,

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Speaker 3: so you can be actually making one hundred and twenty

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Speaker 3: k as a family for and be eligible. Because the

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Speaker 3: cost of living here is a little bit more. If

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Speaker 3: you go into New York, it's going to be even higher,

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Speaker 3: or Los Angeles, San Francisco, if you're in rural Kentucky,

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Speaker 3: it's going to be lower. Right, So it just depends,

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Speaker 3: but that's generally how all of these programs work their

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Speaker 3: income based you know how many people live in the household,

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Speaker 3: and you know that's kind of well. Once I started

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Speaker 3: doing this, I realized how hard these applications are and

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Speaker 3: how difficult it is to get the information. Which is

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Speaker 3: what dollar four does is we have automated that whole

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Speaker 3: process so that you can just go to dollar four,

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Speaker 3: check your eligibility, you know, apply, and we we handle

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Speaker 3: the rest.

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Speaker 1: Okay, what do you typically see a reaction from someone

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Speaker 1: who gets a medical bill in the mail? Like? What

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Speaker 1: what's our typical response? I feel like the there's like

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Speaker 1: a lump that forms in the throat, there's a pit

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Speaker 1: in the stomach, right, there's a general air of panic

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Speaker 1: when you receive a medical bill in the mail. What

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Speaker 1: are the worst responses people make in the aftermath of

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Speaker 1: getting a bill from a hospital or a medical provider

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Speaker 1: in the mail?

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Speaker 3: Oh man, Like the the one that really really hurts

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Speaker 3: me is just throwing it on a credit card, So

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Speaker 3: like panicking and just because a lot of times, you know,

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Speaker 3: it's pretty threatening.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes you get you.

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Speaker 3: Know, final notice, your you know, collection notice, like they

402
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Speaker 3: try to make it seem like it's a your deal

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Speaker 3: than it is.

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Speaker 1: Run all caps letters.

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Speaker 3: Exactly, Like, you know something bad is going to happen

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Speaker 3: if you don't pay this, and you have time, like

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Speaker 3: we just discussed, you have a year until it actually

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Speaker 3: negatively impacts you, So you have a little bit of

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Speaker 3: time to save. You have a little bit of time

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Speaker 3: to think of, you know, make a game plan. But

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Speaker 3: a lot of times people put it on a credit card,

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Speaker 3: and it's like you would much rather have debt at

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Speaker 3: a hospital than debt at a credit card, you know

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Speaker 3: with thirty percent interests.

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Speaker 2: Right, So.

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Speaker 3: That that's one, you know, I think that just a

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Speaker 3: I can't handle this and I'm just going to ignore it.

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Speaker 2: Obviously that doesn't work either.

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Speaker 3: And you know, those are the two big ones that

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Speaker 3: I would say, Hey, like, I know that this is stressful,

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Speaker 3: Like I've gotten some medical bills that, yeah, had that

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Speaker 3: same feeling. But let's make a let's make a game plan,

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Speaker 3: don't put it on a credit card, don't ignore it,

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Speaker 3: and then we can kind of top to, you know,

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Speaker 3: talk through the steps of what to do.

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Speaker 1: All right, I've got more questions I want to get

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Speaker 1: to with the Jared. I want to talk about negotiating

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Speaker 1: down your debt. If you legitimately owe it. What happens

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Speaker 1: to our listeners out there who are making too much?

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Speaker 1: We'll get to question along those lines with Jared Walker

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Speaker 1: right after this. Our backers still talk with Jared Walker

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Speaker 1: talking about knowing your rights, getting rid of medical debt

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Speaker 1: from your life that you don't actually owe, and Jared,

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Speaker 1: I get the question that counts my mind is, Okay,

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Speaker 1: we're talking about percentages of the federal populiner or that

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Speaker 1: general mark of someone making one hundred k. Yeah, if

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Speaker 1: you're in a higher cost of a living city, you

438
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:44,000
Speaker 1: might be able to make a little bit more and

439
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:46,440
Speaker 1: still qualify for forgiveness. What about people who are above

440
00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:47,000
Speaker 1: that threshold?

441
00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:47,200
Speaker 2: Though?

442
00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:49,879
Speaker 1: They look up the financial assistance policy, whether it's on

443
00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:53,520
Speaker 1: Dollar four's website or with their hospital, with their provider,

444
00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:56,600
Speaker 1: and they're like, you know what, I'm making good money

445
00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,680
Speaker 1: and it looks like they're not gonna throw me any

446
00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:02,439
Speaker 1: bones here. How do they proceed? What kind of recourse

447
00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:02,800
Speaker 1: do they have?

448
00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:03,640
Speaker 2: Yeah?

449
00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:07,560
Speaker 3: So I would say step one financial assistance Right, if

450
00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:11,320
Speaker 3: you're not eligible, ask for an itemized bill. So you know,

451
00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:13,880
Speaker 3: I've seen a lot of videos people talk about ask

452
00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:19,400
Speaker 3: for the itemized bill. It can help. So a couple things.

453
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:23,439
Speaker 3: One they say eighty percent of medical bills have errors

454
00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:29,080
Speaker 3: in them, which is insanity. So there you mentioned even

455
00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:31,679
Speaker 3: earlier on this the one hundred dollars aspirin or the

456
00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:35,200
Speaker 3: you know, the fifty dollars band aid, that those charges

457
00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:37,320
Speaker 3: can be lowered or taken off. A lot of times,

458
00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:41,199
Speaker 3: even just asking for the itemized bill can lower your

459
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:43,359
Speaker 3: bill because they'll be like, oh, crap, we you know,

460
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:45,959
Speaker 3: we overcharge that, or we double charge that or whatever.

461
00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:48,960
Speaker 3: You can also go through that itemized bill once you

462
00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:52,760
Speaker 3: get it. There's a couple of websites, I think Healthcare

463
00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,679
Speaker 3: blue Book or Fairhealth, Consumer dot org or something like that.

464
00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:59,400
Speaker 3: There's a couple or chat GPT. There's a couple AI

465
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:01,439
Speaker 3: things where you can plug in, Hey, is this was

466
00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:04,080
Speaker 3: I charged correctly or was I overcharged that?

467
00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:05,800
Speaker 1: It's definitely it seems like one of the best uses

468
00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:08,120
Speaker 1: of AI right now, run your medical bill through there

469
00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:11,160
Speaker 1: and have chat SHEPT or one of the other platforms

470
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:11,639
Speaker 1: assess it.

471
00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:14,679
Speaker 3: Yeah, because you know, sometimes it's just like, hey, you

472
00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:17,639
Speaker 3: were charged twice for this thing and they didn't catch it.

473
00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:20,159
Speaker 3: So ask for an itemized bill. So let's say that

474
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,840
Speaker 3: you're not eligible for financial assistance. Your bill is perfect,

475
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:27,200
Speaker 3: there's no errors. Then I go to negotiate. I negotiate

476
00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:30,760
Speaker 3: every single medical bill that I get. I don't care

477
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:33,360
Speaker 3: if it's a hospital, if it's a lab, if it's

478
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:39,280
Speaker 3: you know, you can negotiate these things. So the first

479
00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:42,160
Speaker 3: thing that I do is I call and I ask

480
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,960
Speaker 3: what is the settlement amount? And that just means like, hey,

481
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,800
Speaker 3: I have cash, what will you take if I close

482
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:52,120
Speaker 3: this out? Because they want to close this out just.

483
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:53,400
Speaker 2: As much as you do. Right.

484
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:55,040
Speaker 3: They don't want this to go to bad debt. They

485
00:23:55,119 --> 00:23:57,800
Speaker 3: want they want to get payment. A lot of times

486
00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:00,919
Speaker 3: you can get twenty thirty percent immediately just by asking

487
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:04,119
Speaker 3: that question. The problem is that you have to have

488
00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:07,320
Speaker 3: the cash. You can't say, hey, I want to negotiate

489
00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:10,480
Speaker 3: this rate and then go on a payment plan for that.

490
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:13,679
Speaker 3: You got to have the cash up front. I've got

491
00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:15,760
Speaker 3: a hospital bill right now. It is seven hundred and

492
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:19,080
Speaker 3: fifty dollars from a hospital. I've called them three times,

493
00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:21,840
Speaker 3: and all three times they've said, we don't do that,

494
00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,720
Speaker 3: we don't negotiate. So I say, okay, I will wait

495
00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:28,280
Speaker 3: until it goes to your collection agency, and then I'll

496
00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:28,960
Speaker 3: negotiate with that.

497
00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:31,680
Speaker 1: Which is an internal collections agency, not external demail.

498
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:32,440
Speaker 2: It doesn't really matter.

499
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:34,880
Speaker 3: Most of them, like this one, I think is it's

500
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:38,120
Speaker 3: definitely external that they'll send it to a different company

501
00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:41,240
Speaker 3: and then I'll negotiate with them. So again, you have

502
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:44,480
Speaker 3: a year until it's going to negatively impact your credit score.

503
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:47,720
Speaker 3: So really nothing can be done other than a bunch

504
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,840
Speaker 3: of threatening letters and I just try to, you know,

505
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:52,720
Speaker 3: get it to an amount that I feel good about

506
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,280
Speaker 3: even saving. You know, twenty thirty percent is great, So

507
00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,199
Speaker 3: you can absolutely do that. You know, I don't do

508
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:02,160
Speaker 3: that with like my chiropractor or you know, like some

509
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:06,520
Speaker 3: small family office or whatever. But if it's at a hospital, labs,

510
00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:09,040
Speaker 3: anything like that, absolutely.

511
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:11,760
Speaker 1: Is that twenty to thirty percent? Is that something that

512
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:15,920
Speaker 1: you should expect? And obviously it sounds like you're being

513
00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:19,119
Speaker 1: stonewalled right now. What are the Are there any downsides

514
00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:22,679
Speaker 1: to having that go to collections? I know that can

515
00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:27,000
Speaker 1: it feels like you're dealing with a more adversarial opponent

516
00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,439
Speaker 1: if it's with a collections agency that I think a

517
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:31,720
Speaker 1: lot for a lot of people that are like it

518
00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:33,119
Speaker 1: scares me too much. I feel like I need to

519
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:35,040
Speaker 1: get rid of this. Take care of it now.

520
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:38,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I actually like working with the collection

521
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:43,640
Speaker 3: agencies more because like, again, they want to close this out,

522
00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,160
Speaker 3: like they're trying to get paid onto the next one.

523
00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:51,800
Speaker 3: And a collection agency unless it's a year old and

524
00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:56,240
Speaker 3: it's gonna you know, ding your credit, it doesn't mean anything.

525
00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:00,200
Speaker 3: It's just you're calling a different number. There's nothing like, Yes,

526
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:02,600
Speaker 3: they might be more aggressive. They might be you might

527
00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:05,120
Speaker 3: get a lot more letters and phone calls and whatnot,

528
00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:08,320
Speaker 3: but you know a hospital is going to send you

529
00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:12,320
Speaker 3: to a collection agency after you know, ninety days, one

530
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:16,000
Speaker 3: hundred and eighty days of no payment. You got time,

531
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:18,640
Speaker 3: like we'll work with you know, if it's the hospital

532
00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,240
Speaker 3: or or the collection agency, whoever's gonna take it. Can

533
00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:25,440
Speaker 3: you expect twenty percent? I would say absolutely. I had

534
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:29,200
Speaker 3: a lab, a bill from a lab a couple months

535
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:31,520
Speaker 3: ago that was thirteen hundred dollars and I asked what

536
00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:34,520
Speaker 3: the settlement amount it was and they loaded to three

537
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,359
Speaker 3: hundred bucks. They're like, we'll take three hundred bucks right now.

538
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 3: I was like done, Like here you go. So sometimes

539
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:43,119
Speaker 3: you can get way more than that, and like I'm

540
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:46,679
Speaker 3: not rude about it, it's just I have called the

541
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:50,560
Speaker 3: same collection agency three different times, talk to three different people,

542
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,240
Speaker 3: and got three different amounts each time when I asked

543
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:58,359
Speaker 3: that question. So like, I don't see any downside to

544
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:00,560
Speaker 3: it other than if you wait too long, you don't

545
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:02,600
Speaker 3: want it to ding your credit. Like at some point

546
00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:05,320
Speaker 3: you got to you got to make the payment, and

547
00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:08,000
Speaker 3: then I would say, like, lastly, get on you know

548
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:09,639
Speaker 3: a payment plan that's affordable to you.

549
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:12,399
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna say. Sometimes it's all about who you

550
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:16,679
Speaker 1: talk to, right, and it does it ever? Really asking

551
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:20,159
Speaker 1: for the supervisor, right, does that make a difference, Like

552
00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:22,800
Speaker 1: maybe you're talking to somebody who's a little lower on

553
00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:26,120
Speaker 1: the totem pole. They don't have the ability to make

554
00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:30,280
Speaker 1: the decision or offer a higher percentage of forgiveness on

555
00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:31,920
Speaker 1: the bill if you're able to pay in full today.

556
00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:34,520
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's just wait until somebody else is in the

557
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,280
Speaker 1: office the next day. Is it truly just kind of scattershot?

558
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:38,040
Speaker 1: You got to keep trying?

559
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:41,600
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, for sure. And I also like give them

560
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:42,080
Speaker 2: the story.

561
00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:44,919
Speaker 3: You know, Hey, I used to do this all the

562
00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,600
Speaker 3: time when I was doing crowdfunding because I'm you know,

563
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:51,119
Speaker 3: I would throw these events. I'm trying to pay a

564
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:54,160
Speaker 3: medical bill for a family in our community. So I'd

565
00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:56,600
Speaker 3: call and I'd give them the story. Hey, like I

566
00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:59,240
Speaker 3: just hosted three events, I raised this much money, the

567
00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:03,560
Speaker 3: bills this much, Like will you take it? Like I

568
00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:07,320
Speaker 3: I have no problem like letting people know, Hey, this

569
00:28:07,359 --> 00:28:09,800
Speaker 3: is a hardship for me, or this is a hardship.

570
00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:10,080
Speaker 2: For this family.

571
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,600
Speaker 3: It would mean a lot, Like this isn't a huge

572
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:17,240
Speaker 3: deal to you whether you get paid eight hundred dollars

573
00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:19,800
Speaker 3: or twelve hundred dollars, but like this would change his

574
00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,600
Speaker 3: family's life. Yeah, So will you take it?

575
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:22,760
Speaker 2: Like?

576
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:27,080
Speaker 3: Absolutely? And absolutely? About you know who you talk to?

577
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:33,399
Speaker 3: Like I said, I've gotten drastically different answers from different

578
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:34,359
Speaker 3: people at the same office.

579
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:36,840
Speaker 1: Talk to me about payment plans, because it sounds like

580
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,000
Speaker 1: at some point, some point, like even if you if

581
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:43,160
Speaker 1: you're you can get a percentage of that medical debt forgiven,

582
00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:47,880
Speaker 1: if you're making more, you don't qualify for full financial assistance,

583
00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:53,240
Speaker 1: a payment plan might be a necessity. Is that what

584
00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:56,520
Speaker 1: should people be aware of with those hospital payment plans?

585
00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,840
Speaker 1: And how are they usually structured? And I would just

586
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:03,160
Speaker 1: zoom Almost always it's better than putting it on a

587
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:05,800
Speaker 1: credit card unless you have the cash to pay off

588
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:07,880
Speaker 1: the credit card bill in full as well.

589
00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I would say, first make sure that this

590
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:14,400
Speaker 3: payment plan isn't a credit card. So a lot of

591
00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:20,120
Speaker 3: times hospitals will will sling these care credit We see

592
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:22,160
Speaker 3: those all the time, like that is a credit card.

593
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:24,440
Speaker 3: That's no good, don't go on, don't go on that.

594
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 1: What's so nefarious about those?

595
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:28,480
Speaker 2: Oh, they're just high interest.

596
00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:31,080
Speaker 3: Like they come off as like, oh, we're you know,

597
00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:34,320
Speaker 3: this is this is better than like your credit card

598
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:34,800
Speaker 3: or whatever.

599
00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:36,600
Speaker 2: But it's like, no, this is just another credit card.

600
00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:37,719
Speaker 2: They're just slinging a product.

601
00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:39,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's their attempt to get it off their

602
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,200
Speaker 1: books and get you out of their face.

603
00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:42,760
Speaker 2: Yeah.

604
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:45,760
Speaker 3: There's another thing that I see a lot on social

605
00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:48,920
Speaker 3: media where people say like, oh, you know, if you

606
00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:51,160
Speaker 3: call your hospital and you say I'm going to go

607
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:53,240
Speaker 3: on a one dollar payment plan, you just pay it

608
00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:54,680
Speaker 3: off for the rest of your life, like they have

609
00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 3: to take it.

610
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 2: I do not.

611
00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:59,240
Speaker 3: That is not true, Like I've tried to. I've tried

612
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:01,680
Speaker 3: to do the like, oh, I'll pay five bucks ten bucks.

613
00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:06,400
Speaker 3: It's like they have minimums. Maybe there are certain states

614
00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:09,360
Speaker 3: or counties that have like laws like that, but I

615
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:11,959
Speaker 3: have not come across that where you can just you

616
00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:18,400
Speaker 3: name the price. You can absolutely negotiate what that payment is.

617
00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 3: But I do believe that there's like a limit to that.

618
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,640
Speaker 3: And then you know, a lot of times when you

619
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:29,720
Speaker 3: go on these payment plans, it allows it so that

620
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:32,040
Speaker 3: they won't send it to collections as long as you're

621
00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,520
Speaker 3: making that payment, or it won't ing your credit. So

622
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:37,840
Speaker 3: you know, I think payment plan to me is just

623
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:42,840
Speaker 3: like almost every hospital clinic you know place is going

624
00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:44,920
Speaker 3: to have an option to go on a payment plan.

625
00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:48,400
Speaker 3: It's just not the best if you, like I said,

626
00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:49,960
Speaker 3: if you know if you have the cash. If you

627
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,320
Speaker 3: have you can usually get it lowered. But for some

628
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:55,200
Speaker 3: it's just like, hey, I can't make this payment now.

629
00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:56,680
Speaker 3: I don't have the cash and I just have to

630
00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:00,680
Speaker 3: spread it out over time, just trying to go something

631
00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:01,440
Speaker 3: that you can afford.

632
00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:05,280
Speaker 1: So early on in your story, you're advocating for everybody

633
00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,840
Speaker 1: you come into contact with, even random people riding bars,

634
00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:13,160
Speaker 1: and obviously it's because they don't know how to advocate

635
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:15,640
Speaker 1: for themselves. They don't even realize this exists. It took

636
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:18,560
Speaker 1: you a while to figure all this stuff out. Can patience?

637
00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:20,800
Speaker 1: Can people who are listening to this podcast right now.

638
00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:24,320
Speaker 1: Can they diy this process themselves or do they need

639
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:27,680
Speaker 1: an advocate to help them out with this because it's

640
00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:30,960
Speaker 1: so full of bear traps that they can step in,

641
00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:33,600
Speaker 1: or is this something that they can you know, do

642
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:34,520
Speaker 1: go it alone.

643
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:35,800
Speaker 2: Oh man, that's a tough one.

644
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:40,320
Speaker 3: So I would say immediately they can absolutely do it themselves.

645
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:42,920
Speaker 3: But it does depend on a few things, right, Like,

646
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:46,720
Speaker 3: you know, if you've got a bad diagnosis, you're starting

647
00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:50,200
Speaker 3: chemo next week, maybe don't take this on right like

648
00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,040
Speaker 3: you got You've got other things to worry about. But

649
00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:55,760
Speaker 3: I think for a lot of people this is really

650
00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:58,120
Speaker 3: just intimidating. It's like, hey, I don't you know, I

651
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:01,240
Speaker 3: haven't negotiated a bill, I haven't done like it can

652
00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:05,200
Speaker 3: be really stressful and intimidating. That being said, we have

653
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:08,440
Speaker 3: tons of resources. We have scripts that you can look

654
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:12,200
Speaker 3: at on our website and walk you through exactly what

655
00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:14,960
Speaker 3: to say, how to say it, when to say it.

656
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:18,720
Speaker 3: AI is another great tool of using you know, hey,

657
00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:20,560
Speaker 3: I'm going to call this hospital, I'm going to try

658
00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:23,640
Speaker 3: to do this. What should I say? And there are

659
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:27,080
Speaker 3: people that are really really uncomfortable doing that. But if

660
00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 3: you can get over that I would say, yeah, the

661
00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:33,480
Speaker 3: everyday person can absolutely find their way through this. Even

662
00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:37,080
Speaker 3: that original TikTok video I just showed people, Hey, if

663
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:42,080
Speaker 3: you google hospital name plus the phrase financial assistance, you know,

664
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:46,280
Speaker 3: Legacy health financial assistance, you usually will be able to

665
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:51,000
Speaker 3: find the policy, find the application, and figure it out.

666
00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:54,960
Speaker 3: But again dollar four is a free resource, so you

667
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:56,000
Speaker 3: can also just go there.

668
00:32:56,320 --> 00:32:59,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, and tell me about the calculator that's on the site, right,

669
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:03,520
Speaker 1: because I feel like, doesn't that help people across the

670
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:06,000
Speaker 1: country be able to input their basic information and figure

671
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:07,520
Speaker 1: out whether or not they're going to be eligible for

672
00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:08,760
Speaker 1: assistance pretty quickly.

673
00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:09,040
Speaker 2: Yeah.

674
00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:12,160
Speaker 3: So early on, we made a database of every hospital

675
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,520
Speaker 3: in the country, and we read every single financial assistance

676
00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:18,080
Speaker 3: policy and found every single application, and we put it

677
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:20,680
Speaker 3: into this database that allows you to go to dollarfo

678
00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:24,920
Speaker 3: dot org, put in your household size, income, what hospital,

679
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:27,440
Speaker 3: and it will tell you if you're eligible at that

680
00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:30,840
Speaker 3: hospital any hospital in the country. And then once you

681
00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:33,520
Speaker 3: find out if you are eligible, we've taken it a

682
00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:36,720
Speaker 3: step further and we've automated the application process so you

683
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:39,680
Speaker 3: can fill it out on your phone, tablet computer. It

684
00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:44,000
Speaker 3: will lead you through your hospital's application. Have you review

685
00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:45,960
Speaker 3: it and it'll ship it off to the hospital and

686
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,840
Speaker 3: then we can advocate on your behalf. So that is

687
00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:52,480
Speaker 3: all in the financial assistance Charity Care department. If you

688
00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 3: want to negotiate, ask for an itemized bill that stuff

689
00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:00,800
Speaker 3: that we have like articles and web pages, but we're

690
00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:02,640
Speaker 3: not doing that as an organization.

691
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:06,920
Speaker 1: Can you maybe share a story from a patient or

692
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:10,960
Speaker 1: two the dollar four has helped? Like, is there somebody

693
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:12,560
Speaker 1: that comes to your mind? When I ask that question,

694
00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:15,480
Speaker 1: You're like, oh my gosh, like how this changed our life?

695
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:18,920
Speaker 1: It was so impactful And I just got to imagine,

696
00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:21,520
Speaker 1: like your job involves a lot of tears. I don't know,

697
00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:23,600
Speaker 1: I'm pretty emotional guy. I'd be crying all the time

698
00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:26,799
Speaker 1: as people have their lives changed by this kind of

699
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:29,560
Speaker 1: unknown resource that exists, right that you're able to point

700
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:32,560
Speaker 1: them towards to forgive debt that they thought was insurmountable.

701
00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:36,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know that it is.

702
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:39,399
Speaker 3: It is emotional. There are a lot of really cool

703
00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:43,120
Speaker 3: patient stories. We have a slack channel in our staff,

704
00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:45,759
Speaker 3: so every single time a medical bill gets waved, we

705
00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:48,400
Speaker 3: all get notified. We have like a little celebration channel.

706
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:54,400
Speaker 3: So just today ninety two thousand dollars medical bill waved

707
00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:57,600
Speaker 3: at Baylor, Scott and White in Texas eight hundred and

708
00:34:57,640 --> 00:34:59,879
Speaker 3: ninety eight dollars medical bill raise sixty three hundred dollars

709
00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:02,319
Speaker 3: four forty three ten thousand, seven hundred and fifty one

710
00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:04,080
Speaker 3: fifty two thousand.

711
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,480
Speaker 2: Like these are these are you know, numbers from today.

712
00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:10,200
Speaker 3: So it is all of these represent people that are

713
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,080
Speaker 3: you know, going through it, that are stressed about that

714
00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:14,879
Speaker 3: medical bill, that are you know, got a bad diagnosis,

715
00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:18,960
Speaker 3: that are struggling through this. So one that sticks out is,

716
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:23,799
Speaker 3: you know, young student had an emergency and was just

717
00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:26,399
Speaker 3: faced with that like am I going to drop out

718
00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:27,000
Speaker 3: of school?

719
00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:28,839
Speaker 2: Or am I going to pay this bill?

720
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:31,080
Speaker 3: So they ended up sending us a photo of them

721
00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:33,240
Speaker 3: on their graduation day saying, Hey, I wouldn't I wouldn't

722
00:35:33,239 --> 00:35:35,160
Speaker 3: have been able to do this. You know if dollar

723
00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:37,799
Speaker 3: Ford hadn't stepped in and helped me with this hospital bill.

724
00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:41,440
Speaker 3: That's pretty powerful because it's like, hey, getting a college

725
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:44,000
Speaker 3: education and being able to do that can do a

726
00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:46,920
Speaker 3: lot for you over the years. Right, And then we

727
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:49,600
Speaker 3: have lots of stories of the people that were just like, hey,

728
00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:52,160
Speaker 3: I didn't I didn't have to move out of my apartment.

729
00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:54,880
Speaker 3: I didn't get kicked out of my living situation. So

730
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:58,279
Speaker 3: you know, all of these whether it's a you know,

731
00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:02,080
Speaker 3: one hundred thousand dollars medical bill or or a thousand dollars,

732
00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:04,680
Speaker 3: if you don't have it, it may as well be

733
00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:05,719
Speaker 3: one hundred thousand, right.

734
00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:06,360
Speaker 1: So we.

735
00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:09,040
Speaker 2: Celebrate them all.

736
00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:11,520
Speaker 3: And there's a lot of really cool stories, even the

737
00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:13,880
Speaker 3: Google reviews and stuff. You'll see some of those that

738
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:15,280
Speaker 3: are pretty impactful.

739
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:16,560
Speaker 1: All right, I got a few more questions I want

740
00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:18,600
Speaker 1: to get to with Jared, including I want to want

741
00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:21,200
Speaker 1: to get put your future prediction hat on for just

742
00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:23,840
Speaker 1: a second, so we'll cover that stuff with Jared in

743
00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:33,480
Speaker 1: just a second. Our we're back still talking with Jared Walker,

744
00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:36,640
Speaker 1: talking about getting rid of medical debt that you don't know.

745
00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:40,960
Speaker 1: There are resources and policies out there in place to

746
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:43,919
Speaker 1: help ensure that you're not paying debt that you don't

747
00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:46,360
Speaker 1: know that you don't have to pay, and it's obviously

748
00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:47,879
Speaker 1: making a big difference in the lives of a bunch

749
00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:49,839
Speaker 1: of folks just knowing this. I remember the first time

750
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:52,239
Speaker 1: I stumbled upon a Jared this was like probably about

751
00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:54,760
Speaker 1: the time you were when I had a personal medical

752
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:57,879
Speaker 1: bill and I honestly don't even remember this before AI

753
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:00,520
Speaker 1: any of that stuff. How I figured this out. Maybe

754
00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:03,120
Speaker 1: it was some gentle person at the hospital telling me,

755
00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:05,160
Speaker 1: maybe as a patient advocate I talked to I don't

756
00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:08,279
Speaker 1: remember to look at the financial assistance policy, and I

757
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:11,320
Speaker 1: still remember being flabbergasted, and I was like, wait a second,

758
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:14,840
Speaker 1: this bill that was going to derail my ability to

759
00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:18,080
Speaker 1: save for my future and buy a house, Like well,

760
00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:21,520
Speaker 1: I don't know it anymore. That's incredible. I made so

761
00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:24,680
Speaker 1: little money that I was I was able to qualify,

762
00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:29,239
Speaker 1: and that was just it was a game changer. So yeah,

763
00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:30,799
Speaker 1: the fact that you're pointing people towards this, I think

764
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:34,960
Speaker 1: is beautiful. I'm curious what your take is, Like, we've

765
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:39,560
Speaker 1: seen a pretty big healthcare cost spike happening in twenty

766
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:43,040
Speaker 1: twenty six. What do you think the fallout is going

767
00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:46,400
Speaker 1: to be for rising health care costs? Obviously it's just

768
00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:48,680
Speaker 1: been like the norm we've gotten used to it over

769
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:52,239
Speaker 1: the past couple of decades, but even more severe this year.

770
00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:54,759
Speaker 1: And then I want to kind of follow up and

771
00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:57,239
Speaker 1: ask you about health sharing plans and what your take

772
00:37:57,320 --> 00:37:58,800
Speaker 1: is on those. But because I think they're going to

773
00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:02,640
Speaker 1: see a rise in interest given the uptake in traditional

774
00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:04,000
Speaker 1: health hit care insurance costs.

775
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:08,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh man, okay, So I think unfortunately, it's gonna

776
00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:10,960
Speaker 3: get worse. There will be more medical debt, there will

777
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:13,480
Speaker 3: be more people declaring bankruptcy, there will be more people

778
00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:17,040
Speaker 3: that decide to not pay that insurance premium that's just

779
00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:20,480
Speaker 3: too expensive. And I think that there's going to be

780
00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:24,719
Speaker 3: a bigger need for programs like Dollar four. And I

781
00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:28,000
Speaker 3: think that you know, we're going to start to see

782
00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:33,000
Speaker 3: a lot of people having to become advocates since you know,

783
00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:36,640
Speaker 3: it's a lot of work like this is sometimes it's

784
00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:38,640
Speaker 3: like this is a part time job fighting this stuff,

785
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,480
Speaker 3: and I think that that can wear on people. So

786
00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:46,520
Speaker 3: I think unfortunately, with Medicaid cuts or the insurance premiums

787
00:38:46,560 --> 00:38:48,600
Speaker 3: going up, I think that you're going to see hospitals

788
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:53,400
Speaker 3: that are going to cry poor all the time. Hospitals

789
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:55,240
Speaker 3: are crying poor. Hey, we're going to go out of business,

790
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:57,440
Speaker 3: don't you know. With the Medicaid cuts, they're going to

791
00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:01,919
Speaker 3: see hospitals that will lower their income threshold for charity care.

792
00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:04,600
Speaker 3: So you know, maybe you were eligible last year, but

793
00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:07,080
Speaker 3: you're not eligible this year. We lowered the amount, So

794
00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:08,399
Speaker 3: I think that we're going to see a lot of that,

795
00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:10,960
Speaker 3: and I, you know, Dollar for is trying to lean

796
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:16,080
Speaker 3: in and provide more educational resources and more patient advocacy

797
00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:18,839
Speaker 3: and all of that. But we are in a time

798
00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:23,440
Speaker 3: where healthcare is expensive, more expensive than ever, and I

799
00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:27,399
Speaker 3: wish I had better prediction, but right now we're kind

800
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:29,640
Speaker 3: of brasen for being pretty busy.

801
00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:32,880
Speaker 1: What's your take on the health sharing plans because it

802
00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:36,200
Speaker 1: does seem like the only reason they exist is because

803
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:41,359
Speaker 1: the insurance space has gotten so ridiculously expensive that if

804
00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:44,680
Speaker 1: you are above right, that if you don't work for

805
00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:47,799
Speaker 1: an employer who offers you health insurance that's substantially discounted.

806
00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:51,800
Speaker 1: You work for yourself, but you you know, make above

807
00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:56,960
Speaker 1: the amount that qualifies for substantial subsidies traditional insurance. Essentially,

808
00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:59,520
Speaker 1: if you're in that gap, it's unaffordable, and health sharing

809
00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:02,400
Speaker 1: plans are feel like your only option I think for

810
00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:03,440
Speaker 1: a segment of the population.

811
00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:09,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is this is a sticky situation here, because

812
00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:12,960
Speaker 3: what do I think? So there's this whole like group

813
00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:15,759
Speaker 3: of people that are in the like hack your healthcare

814
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:18,080
Speaker 3: type of spot, Like what can we you know, what,

815
00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:19,399
Speaker 3: how can we make this work?

816
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:21,239
Speaker 2: So direct Primary Care.

817
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:23,160
Speaker 3: I don't know if you've heard of dpcs all that

818
00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:26,839
Speaker 3: super super popular. I think it's great, Like I have

819
00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:29,319
Speaker 3: there there's one you know down the road. For me,

820
00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:32,359
Speaker 3: it's like eighty five bucks a month and I can

821
00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:34,440
Speaker 3: go see a doctor and you know, get an next

822
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:37,479
Speaker 3: ray or do whatever. Right, But if I have something

823
00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:40,080
Speaker 3: really bad happen to me, like that doesn't help, right.

824
00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:44,840
Speaker 3: And I think that with these health share ministries, a

825
00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:48,640
Speaker 3: lot of them, it's I think that there's sometimes there's

826
00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:50,840
Speaker 3: just as much risk because a lot of times people

827
00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:54,160
Speaker 3: think that this is insurance and this is regulated in

828
00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:56,839
Speaker 3: some way, and a lot of times they're not, like,

829
00:40:57,120 --> 00:40:58,359
Speaker 3: you know, you're paying into it.

830
00:40:59,239 --> 00:41:01,200
Speaker 2: Essentially you're paying.

831
00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:05,520
Speaker 3: Into a big cash pool, and if something happens to you,

832
00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:09,080
Speaker 3: they're saying that they'll pay out. I have heard some

833
00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:14,439
Speaker 3: wild stories about these health shares not paying out.

834
00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:17,840
Speaker 1: And is that typically because of stipulations they have about

835
00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:20,799
Speaker 1: what sort of rules you have to abide by, how

836
00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:24,279
Speaker 1: you have to live in order to qualify for participation

837
00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:25,400
Speaker 1: in health sharing.

838
00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:30,680
Speaker 3: Sometimes other times they just I'm trying to figure out

839
00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:33,400
Speaker 3: what I'm allowed to say. I have There have been

840
00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:36,080
Speaker 3: some pretty big lawsuits that have happened with groups like

841
00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:39,799
Speaker 3: this because they basically just went out of business and

842
00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:42,799
Speaker 3: didn't have the they didn't have the pool to cover

843
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:45,520
Speaker 3: what they needed to sure. I actually got reached out

844
00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:48,040
Speaker 3: to Dollar four, got reached out to there's a big group,

845
00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:51,520
Speaker 3: and they were like, we only have this much money,

846
00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:54,680
Speaker 3: but we have this amount in claims and we're going

847
00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:55,280
Speaker 3: out of business.

848
00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:56,759
Speaker 2: Can you help us try to lower.

849
00:41:56,520 --> 00:42:01,279
Speaker 3: These So like wow, And they're just not not regulated

850
00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:03,640
Speaker 3: in the same way that insurance is. And again I'm like,

851
00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:05,040
Speaker 3: insurance is the worst.

852
00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:05,600
Speaker 2: I hate it.

853
00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:08,520
Speaker 3: I hate all of these players like they're they're terrible,

854
00:42:09,040 --> 00:42:11,279
Speaker 3: but there are certain rules that they have to have,

855
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:14,279
Speaker 3: and like I think that no matter what, you are

856
00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:17,280
Speaker 3: giving up a little bit of you're giving up something

857
00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:18,960
Speaker 3: when you when you switch to It's another thing, like

858
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:22,480
Speaker 3: you mentioned, a lot of these health shares are they're

859
00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:26,000
Speaker 3: religious based, so you have a moral contract.

860
00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:28,920
Speaker 2: You know, hey, I'm not going to smoke, drink what

861
00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:30,080
Speaker 2: you know.

862
00:42:30,280 --> 00:42:32,880
Speaker 3: If you have to go to the hospital for an

863
00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:35,040
Speaker 3: STD like they're not covering that, if you have to

864
00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:39,000
Speaker 3: go to the hospital for whatever. And it's just I

865
00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:42,920
Speaker 3: think that for some people it is a fantastic choice

866
00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:46,399
Speaker 3: and for others it's not. And I think that that's

867
00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:49,560
Speaker 3: kind of one of the big things with healthcare now

868
00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:54,040
Speaker 3: is like you have to put in quite a bit

869
00:42:54,080 --> 00:42:58,319
Speaker 3: of work and research to figure out what is a

870
00:42:58,320 --> 00:43:02,719
Speaker 3: good choice for me. My wife and I use this

871
00:43:02,719 --> 00:43:05,919
Speaker 3: this website called sesame Care. It's just a telehealth thing.

872
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:08,640
Speaker 3: But if I want a little piece of mind, Like

873
00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:10,200
Speaker 3: a few months ago, I had a little lump on

874
00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:13,160
Speaker 3: my neck and I was like, what is this? Hopped

875
00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:16,000
Speaker 3: on a you know, I spent thirty five bucks hopped

876
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:18,080
Speaker 3: on a fifteen minute call with a doctor and they

877
00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:20,239
Speaker 3: were like, hey, you can chill out. It's a you know,

878
00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:23,719
Speaker 3: a lymph node that is follen because you're sick. Yeah,

879
00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:25,279
Speaker 3: And I was like, okay, sweet, and I could get

880
00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:26,840
Speaker 3: you know, and that cost me thirty five bucks. But

881
00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:28,920
Speaker 3: you know a lot of people I tell people, oh,

882
00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:30,839
Speaker 3: you know, you can you can hop on a call

883
00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:34,480
Speaker 3: with a doctor, you know, within the same hour and

884
00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:36,640
Speaker 3: get a little piece of mind. A lot of people

885
00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:39,600
Speaker 3: don't know that's even an option. So you know, there's

886
00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:42,080
Speaker 3: that whole like there's the whole cash pay rate, Like, hey,

887
00:43:42,160 --> 00:43:44,040
Speaker 3: if you don't have insurance, you just pay cash. Can

888
00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:48,000
Speaker 3: you get a deal, absolutely, but if something really bad happens,

889
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:50,799
Speaker 3: you know, you don't have the cash to cover it.

890
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:54,280
Speaker 3: So I'm saying a lot of words without saying anything.

891
00:43:54,560 --> 00:43:56,960
Speaker 2: It all depends. Health shares are great for some.

892
00:43:57,200 --> 00:43:59,719
Speaker 1: Well in the cash pay is Yeah, it can be

893
00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:01,719
Speaker 1: helped if you know what you're dealing with, you can

894
00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:04,920
Speaker 1: ask in advance. But if you have some sort of yeah,

895
00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:08,120
Speaker 1: I got to go to the emergency room right now situation,

896
00:44:08,719 --> 00:44:11,480
Speaker 1: it's pretty hard when you're bleeding from the side of

897
00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:13,200
Speaker 1: your head or something to be like, tell me how

898
00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:14,960
Speaker 1: much this visit's going to cost? Right, It's hard to

899
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:17,399
Speaker 1: negotiate something like. That's what's so tenuous and difficult about

900
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:18,120
Speaker 1: the healthcare system.

901
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:20,279
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we have people ask all the time

902
00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:23,759
Speaker 3: because like, you could be in a city and you

903
00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:26,880
Speaker 3: could have one hospital that has a much higher charity

904
00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:29,680
Speaker 3: care threshold than another one. But if you're in the ambulance,

905
00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:31,480
Speaker 3: what are you going to do? Tell the driver like, no,

906
00:44:31,560 --> 00:44:33,080
Speaker 3: don't take me to the house, but take me to

907
00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:35,120
Speaker 3: this one because they have a better charity care policy.

908
00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:39,080
Speaker 3: A lot of times people aren't thinking that way in

909
00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:41,399
Speaker 3: the moment, and you know, you get a big out

910
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:43,239
Speaker 3: of pocket bill and It's like, yeah, if you could

911
00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:45,839
Speaker 3: go back in time and you know research who had

912
00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:48,640
Speaker 3: the cheaper MRI, like, would it have helped? Yeah, would have,

913
00:44:48,719 --> 00:44:51,359
Speaker 3: But a lot of people aren't working with that time.

914
00:44:51,680 --> 00:44:53,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know when it happens.

915
00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:56,680
Speaker 1: Well, last question, I think if ultimately, if you could,

916
00:44:56,760 --> 00:44:58,759
Speaker 1: my guess is you would want Dollar four to go

917
00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:02,000
Speaker 1: out of business because you you would want the system

918
00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:04,160
Speaker 1: to work in such a way that people were not

919
00:45:04,560 --> 00:45:08,200
Speaker 1: blindsided by medical bills that they couldn't afford, that they

920
00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:11,239
Speaker 1: didn't realize it was forgiveness for But I also saw

921
00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:13,120
Speaker 1: on your website you have like some goals that you

922
00:45:13,120 --> 00:45:15,640
Speaker 1: want to reach by twenty twenty eight, and I'm curious

923
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:19,160
Speaker 1: just to know where you see Dollar for its future headed.

924
00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:24,360
Speaker 3: Uh. Yeah, I hope out of business. I mean we

925
00:45:24,719 --> 00:45:28,120
Speaker 3: helped get a lot passed in Oregon and in California

926
00:45:28,239 --> 00:45:32,360
Speaker 3: that requires hospitals to screen patients for charity care before

927
00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:36,280
Speaker 3: they can send a bill. That's great, we have data

928
00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:40,680
Speaker 3: that that works. So like Dollar four, the idea that

929
00:45:40,719 --> 00:45:43,319
Speaker 3: we have to exist is embarrassing. These hospitals need to

930
00:45:43,320 --> 00:45:47,920
Speaker 3: be held accountable for screening patients. They have convinced the

931
00:45:47,960 --> 00:45:52,040
Speaker 3: public that it is the patient's responsibility to find out

932
00:45:52,080 --> 00:45:54,520
Speaker 3: about the programs and to jump through the hoops. It

933
00:45:54,600 --> 00:45:59,000
Speaker 3: is absolutely their responsibility to screen patients for the programs.

934
00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:03,160
Speaker 3: So we just need to create laws that actually have

935
00:46:03,239 --> 00:46:06,360
Speaker 3: a little bit of teeth that require them to screen patients.

936
00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:07,960
Speaker 2: And if you don't, something happens.

937
00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:11,520
Speaker 3: Right, So the idea would be long term, we would

938
00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:14,640
Speaker 3: eliminate as much medical debt as we possibly can for individuals,

939
00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:18,680
Speaker 3: like help people right now that are hurting, but long term,

940
00:46:18,719 --> 00:46:22,000
Speaker 3: create laws that don't require us to be around and

941
00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:23,520
Speaker 3: that hospitals do this on their own.

942
00:46:23,680 --> 00:46:26,320
Speaker 2: So that would be the hope. But you know, healthcare

943
00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:29,120
Speaker 2: is tough, so we'll see. We'll see how long that

944
00:46:29,160 --> 00:46:30,000
Speaker 2: takes it is.

945
00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:32,360
Speaker 1: I mean, I hope that we were not You're not

946
00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:34,319
Speaker 1: doing what you're doing ten years from now, and I

947
00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:36,520
Speaker 1: hope that I'm not covering it in the same way

948
00:46:36,920 --> 00:46:39,799
Speaker 1: on the show ten years from now, but our lips

949
00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:42,200
Speaker 1: to God's ears, I guess, Jared love what you guys

950
00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:44,520
Speaker 1: are doing, the man dollar Ford. Love the way it

951
00:46:44,600 --> 00:46:47,040
Speaker 1: started and how you guys are helping so many folks

952
00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:50,120
Speaker 1: work and how the money listeners find out more about

953
00:46:50,360 --> 00:46:54,080
Speaker 1: the resources that Dollar four offers and just kind of

954
00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:56,080
Speaker 1: dig in and figure out what you guys are all about.

955
00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:57,919
Speaker 2: Yeah, Dollar four dot org.

956
00:46:58,160 --> 00:47:01,280
Speaker 3: All of our programming, all of all of our services

957
00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:04,480
Speaker 3: are completely free. We are one hundred percent funded through

958
00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:08,040
Speaker 3: philanthropy donations. So you can see if you are eligible,

959
00:47:08,640 --> 00:47:09,960
Speaker 3: see if you can get help.

960
00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:11,359
Speaker 2: From dollar for a dollar for dot org.

961
00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:14,400
Speaker 3: You can also give sign up for donation or whatever

962
00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:16,640
Speaker 3: at the same website. Dollar ford dot org is where you.

963
00:47:16,600 --> 00:47:17,160
Speaker 2: Can find it all.

964
00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:21,319
Speaker 1: Awesome, Jared, thanks so much, Thank you appreciate it all. Right,

965
00:47:21,320 --> 00:47:26,279
Speaker 1: what an enlightening conversation with Jared from Dollar four man

966
00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:30,000
Speaker 1: an organization that, like we said at the end, we

967
00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:33,439
Speaker 1: wish did not have to exist, but the fact that

968
00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:37,640
Speaker 1: we kind of live in the current health insurance reality

969
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:41,960
Speaker 1: that we live in, and like dollar four is a necessity, right,

970
00:47:42,080 --> 00:47:46,120
Speaker 1: And I'm just so glad that their mission to help

971
00:47:46,160 --> 00:47:49,839
Speaker 1: consumers avoid medical debt that they many of them would

972
00:47:49,840 --> 00:47:53,200
Speaker 1: pay many do pay when they don't have to, when

973
00:47:53,200 --> 00:47:55,560
Speaker 1: they're not obligated to, when in fact that debt is

974
00:47:55,600 --> 00:47:59,600
Speaker 1: easily forgiven under financial assistance policies. Please do go check

975
00:47:59,640 --> 00:48:03,080
Speaker 1: out their website dollarfor dot org and you can see

976
00:48:03,360 --> 00:48:08,319
Speaker 1: there on the literally right there on the homepage. See

977
00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:10,479
Speaker 1: if you qualify, right, you pick the state you're in

978
00:48:11,040 --> 00:48:15,279
Speaker 1: the bill, how much you owe, your income, size of household,

979
00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:19,400
Speaker 1: and you can figure out really quickly whether or not

980
00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:22,040
Speaker 1: you qualify. If you have a friend who has been

981
00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:25,040
Speaker 1: talking to you about this medical bill that's plaguing them,

982
00:48:25,360 --> 00:48:28,960
Speaker 1: send them over there, right and and see, you know,

983
00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:31,239
Speaker 1: maybe maybe you can, kind of like Jared did with

984
00:48:31,320 --> 00:48:35,000
Speaker 1: the Bartender, help someone else find out about forgiveness of

985
00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:39,719
Speaker 1: a medical bill that they don't actually owe even though

986
00:48:39,719 --> 00:48:41,759
Speaker 1: they think they do. What a bright spot. Well, what

987
00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:45,600
Speaker 1: a way to help other people that really doesn't take

988
00:48:45,680 --> 00:48:48,800
Speaker 1: much effort on your part. And I guess my big

989
00:48:48,920 --> 00:48:54,200
Speaker 1: takeaway from this conversation was, I think it was really

990
00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:56,279
Speaker 1: important to mention that you have time. I think so

991
00:48:56,400 --> 00:48:59,160
Speaker 1: often Jared's spot on, right. You get that letter in

992
00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:01,600
Speaker 1: the mail freaking out, and you're like, I have to

993
00:49:01,640 --> 00:49:04,440
Speaker 1: do something now, And it's that pressure of feeling like

994
00:49:04,480 --> 00:49:07,520
Speaker 1: you have to do something asap, or somebody's calling you

995
00:49:07,719 --> 00:49:10,319
Speaker 1: and they're hounding you about paying your debt, or you've

996
00:49:10,320 --> 00:49:14,840
Speaker 1: gotten a past do notice and you feel like, I

997
00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:16,440
Speaker 1: guess I just have to take the plunge. I have

998
00:49:16,440 --> 00:49:17,680
Speaker 1: to start making payments. I have to get on a

999
00:49:17,680 --> 00:49:19,640
Speaker 1: payment plan, I have to take out the credit card

1000
00:49:19,719 --> 00:49:22,640
Speaker 1: that the hospital is offering me. No, no, you don't.

1001
00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:24,840
Speaker 1: And the fact that you have time on your side

1002
00:49:25,719 --> 00:49:32,160
Speaker 1: means you can find for look for ways to get help.

1003
00:49:32,400 --> 00:49:34,920
Speaker 1: You're not alone, and you don't have to make a

1004
00:49:34,920 --> 00:49:39,800
Speaker 1: decision asap. You have a year twelve months right before

1005
00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:43,080
Speaker 1: that's going to go on your credit report and start

1006
00:49:43,120 --> 00:49:46,400
Speaker 1: making impacting your score, So you have time know that.

1007
00:49:47,239 --> 00:49:49,120
Speaker 1: Man I thought it was also just so interesting. One

1008
00:49:49,160 --> 00:49:52,239
Speaker 1: of the things he highlighted was how medical bills they

1009
00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:58,200
Speaker 1: stall individual lives, but they also stall economic progress. I

1010
00:49:58,200 --> 00:50:00,680
Speaker 1: think about somebody not going to college because they have

1011
00:50:00,719 --> 00:50:04,319
Speaker 1: a medical debt they need to pay, and how not

1012
00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:06,839
Speaker 1: only is that bad for that individual, but it's bad

1013
00:50:06,880 --> 00:50:10,880
Speaker 1: for the economy. It's preventing people from their highest and

1014
00:50:10,920 --> 00:50:14,080
Speaker 1: best use in society, from getting the degree that's going

1015
00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:17,799
Speaker 1: to help accelerate not only their career but the US

1016
00:50:17,920 --> 00:50:22,920
Speaker 1: economy as a whole. So it's really hard to point

1017
00:50:22,960 --> 00:50:27,040
Speaker 1: to bright spots in the area of health insurance in

1018
00:50:27,080 --> 00:50:30,720
Speaker 1: the United States, and twenty twenty six in particular feels

1019
00:50:30,719 --> 00:50:32,839
Speaker 1: like a year where things are coming to a head

1020
00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:40,400
Speaker 1: where expenses are increasing and where there is just people

1021
00:50:40,400 --> 00:50:42,920
Speaker 1: are choosing between a rock and a hard place on

1022
00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:45,960
Speaker 1: the health insurance front, and so at least it's good

1023
00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:49,400
Speaker 1: to note that there are some people trying to help

1024
00:50:50,080 --> 00:50:54,839
Speaker 1: the average individual who isn't quite sure where to turn.

1025
00:50:55,239 --> 00:50:56,880
Speaker 1: So that's going to do it for this episode. Will

1026
00:50:56,880 --> 00:50:59,320
Speaker 1: put links to Dollar for a site, some other resources

1027
00:50:59,600 --> 00:51:01,360
Speaker 1: that we make mentioned up in the show notes on

1028
00:51:01,440 --> 00:51:04,919
Speaker 1: the website and howtomoney dot com. Until next time, best

1029
00:51:04,960 --> 00:51:05,439
Speaker 1: Friend Out.