Pay them in full if you can. I had not paid my deductible on my insurance when I had my surgery. I got a letter from the insurance company that I needed to pay $917.58 for the cat scane the insurance paid the rest. Well I called the place I had the cat scan done to get a account number to put on my check. I told the lady I wanted to pay in full and needed a address and a account number. The lady said "your going to pay in full?" I said yes, she said you have a high deductible hold on a second. When she came back she told me she would give me a discount. She did and I only owe $734.06 Cool saved me $184.52 it still counts as $917.58 showing on my deductible with the insurance company. She also told me who to talk to at the hospital when the bill comes in and I have to pay it where I can get a discount if paid in full. She said the only people that won't give a discount is Anesthesiology . Its not always easy to pay things in full and it would not do much good if you paid with credit card and had to pay the interest. But if you have cash and can do it , you save a few hundred dollars. :)

Wish I could have got a discount when they put a new pump in my well yesterday. Those people cost more than doctors ! Took them 2 hours and they walked away with a gran. Maybe the discounts will pay for my new pump!  :D

All this means I don't get my Jackie fix this year  :( But there is always the phone  8-)

Wow. You're too nice. Would that we all could be that way.

We have one outfit here in town, the local radiologists, that nobody can stand. Their FIRSTcontact with you is "YOU MUST PAY THIS BILL IN FULL. We will not accept partial payments." (Says so right on the bill) Nice. As you know, I got in deep for a couple years and did all kinds of partial payments with everybody and every thing. Not the $300 I owed them though...so when they threatened to turn my case over to a collection agency, I said "great." We used them many times. They expect partial payments. $50 a week worked out just fine. It hasn't affect my credit rating. (Actually, I paid it off in three months) The Radiologists are at the bottom of my list.  8-) God bless the Credit Bureau.

Glad things worked out Elaine. Look into other ways of paying if you can. Just don't use a credit card.

Charlie