Member-only story
A Survivor’s Guide to Medical Debt
Suicide attempt survivors often deal with high medical bills from subsequent health care. Here’s a helpful guide for how to start navigating them.
If you or someone you know need help, consider calling The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1–800–273-TALK (8255) for English, 1–888–628–9454 for Spanish.
The last thing suicide attempt survivors think about in the first days and weeks of recovery is their medical bills. And yet as Elemental reported on Monday, many Americans who attempt suicide face the stress of paying off bills for their medical care.
Elemental spent several months reporting on self-harm and medical debt and asked a combination of suicide attempt survivors and health experts for some best practices for survivors looking for help with their medical bills. As one expert we spoke to put it: “The bill is a starting place, not the end of a sentence.”
1. Find an advocate
One of the hardest parts of dealing with medical debt is picking up the phone to call the hospital billing department, debt collector, or insurance company. Finding a family member, friend, mental health advocate, or community group that helps with financial counseling who is willing to sit with you while you make calls about your medical bills or call on your behalf can help relieve some of that anxiety. In addition, while the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is often turned to in times of crisis, phone counselors are trained to provide referrals to organizations that can provide more specific help for navigating medical debt.
2. Gather your documents
Find a dedicated place, be it a shelf, drawer, or folder, to start compiling all of the documents and information you might need to start tackling your medical debt. Put your medical records, bills, and all correspondence from the hospital, ambulance service, debt collection agency, and insurance company there. You can also store notes from calls with the billing departments (including the date of the call and who you or your advocate spoke with). If you think you might be eligible for financial assistance, you can also start to gather recent pay stubs…
