I had some minor surgery in January of last year and I have only just received a bill for the anaesthetic. The total amount is not a lot but I wanted to pay it off monthly and the provider wants me to pay more per month than I do, they said that if I don't pay the amount they want me to pay they will refer it to a collections agency. Can they insist I do this? The reason I ask is that when I got the bill for the surgery via a billing company last spring they said the same thing but when I called the billing department of the hospital itself I was told they couldn't do that and I arranged to make payments that suited us both.
They can and some places will. What I have done in the past (if I can't swing the payment they want) is tell them I can afford X dollars a month, and then just send them that. If they send it to collections, I just keep sending the monthly payment to the original biller until it's paid. I never acknowledge the collection attempt. Unless you're talking big money, all they'll do is send letters or maybe call. Generally, if they're getting something every month, they'll accept it. Sure they'd like more, but something beats nothing on the books.
