As Individuals sink underneath medical bills, debt collectors go to nice—and generally unusual—lengths to gather. Olga Khazan writes on The Atlantic:

Corporations can attempt to accumulate on medical debt nearly without end. Though outdated debt is simpler to flee in courtroom, little prevents debt collectors from attempting to gather on it. “Debt by no means dies,” says Craig Antico, a former medical-debt collector and a co-founder of RIP Medical Debt, a company that buys and eliminates medical debt. Solely Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Mississippi clear sure money owed as soon as they’re previous the statute of limitations.

Usually, hospitals in search of to get payments paid place accounts in a “waterfall” of assortment makes an attempt, Antico informed me. At first, hospitals, or the collections companies they rent, will method debtors with  a “smooth” assortment: Did you misplace your invoice? Possibly you qualify for charity care. “However then if folks aren’t responding, it is going to get extra traumatic,” Antico mentioned. A set company would possibly report the quantity owed to a credit score bureau, or the account could be despatched to an lawyer to implement assortment. (A new proposed federal rule would prohibit debt collectors from calling greater than seven instances weekly a couple of debt, however shopper advocates informed me this might nonetheless end in greater than seven calls in every week, since every physician’s invoice can depend as a separate debt.)

Ultimately, collectors would possibly choose to sue you, wherein case they may have the ability to garnish your wages or put a lien in your property. Antico estimates, based mostly on an ADP report, that about 1.5 % of American workers have a garnishment on their wages for a medical motive.