Interest on medical bills

[Guest m&pc9]

Can a doctors office legally charge interest on a med bill. I have a friend that has a small bill she is paying on. She pays every month and they started charging interest on the amount due, 18%. I have had medical bills in the past and paid a monthly payment on it. But have never been charged interest. I alway thought there was a law against it but never knew for sure.

[Raoul]

That is not an unusual situation.

[MikePapa1]

Not unless there's a contract that allows it.

[Guest mosinon]

From some PDF I found the answer is yes. To quote

"Tennessee Law - Physicians' offices, like nearly all businesses within the State of Tennessee, are allowed to charge customers (patients) interest on outstanding bills. If a physician decides to begin attaching interest charges to overdue accounts, full disclosure must be made to the affected patients. Additionally, there are several other ethical and legal (state and federal) obligations to consider before a physician's office may charge interest. Interest charges in Tennessee for any business or lender must never exceed the usury limit set forth under T.C.A. §§ 47-14-101 to 125. Indeed, it is a Class A misdemeanor in Tennessee to charge a customer (or a patient) a usurious rate of interest on an account or loan."

From what I can tell, usury in TN is about 24%. I'd tell her to find a way to pay it off.

Side note: I've never been to a doctors office that actually does this. I have worked at a place that would do this when they thought people were getting payments from their insurance company and not handing them over but that was twenty years ago and they just threatened. I'd give them a call and explain the situation and see if they won't cut her a break.

[Guest m&pc9]

It is actually an annestioligist. (The people that put you to sleep)

The bad thing is she lives alone and working her way through school.

[dats82]

Anesthesiologist. They put you to sleep, do spinal injections, and nerve blocks and such.

She should call them and talk with them for sure. I know a bunch of people think docs can be harsh, but most of the ones I have been around are fairly reasonable if you are up front and honest with them.

Edited November 24, 2010 by dats82