I Got a $2,800 Hospital Bill for Treatment as a Minor – Am I Responsible for This Cost?

Medical bills are a nightmare, and one of the only things that can make them worse is getting one from years ago when you weren’t expecting it. Are you under any obligation to pay your medical bills when you were a child? What options are available to you when you can’t afford to pay a medical bill?

One person faced these questions after receiving a medical bill for care while they were under the age of 18. They took their concerns to the people in the r/personalfinance community on Reddit. We combed through the more reliable and useful responses to find out what they said. Please remember, of course, that everything in this article and in the original thread are opinions, not legal or financial advice.

The Original Question

The author of the original post says that they recently turned 18 years old, but while they were still 17 they underwent surgery in a local hospital. They did not have insurance at the time.

They didn’t receive the bill until after they had turned 18 and couldn’t afford to pay it. It is for $2,800. They contacted the hospital and the third-party finance company to get some clarification. The hospital said that any finance questions have to be directed toward the finance department which was transitioning and unable to handle questions at the time.

The author went online and asked if they were obligated to pay the bill since they were a minor when they had the surgery.

The Community Response

The most common and strongest recommendation was that the author should not pay anything right away, even if it is eventually determined that they are responsible for the bill. There is almost always a way or a mechanism to not only make bills easier to pay but to also reduce the bill as well.

That being said, there were plenty of people who said that the author is probably not responsible for it since minors cannot legally assume debt since they are too young to enter into a legally binding contract. Therefore, it is most likely that the author’s parents are ultimately responsible for the bill.

However, the author is under no obligation to give the hospital any more information than is necessary to prove they were a minor at the time of the surgery. They don’t have to provide information about their parents, or even that their parents were present for the surgery. If the hospital wants to collect its money, it will have to do the work to find that information itself.

There are several ways to accomplish this, but it usually involves speaking to someone in the billing or finance department, and escalating the issue to managers and superiors, until someone finally listens. The process will differ depending on the state and hospital.

Others suggested that even asking someone who was a minor to pay a bill is illegal, and reminding the hospital or collecting party of this fact is sometimes enough to get them to stop.

Many other people supported this advice and added some additional tips and recommendations.

First, be prepared for the hospital and the finance department (or third-party collector) to get very hostile and even use threats.

Second, if you are scared about someone coming after you for your money, even if you’re not legally responsible for it, ask a lawyer for help.

Third, some people actually just ignore their medical bills. After they are given to a collection agency, these companies usually just sign them off as a loss and move on and the medical bills will be removed from your credit history after a few years. Just by waiting a few years to pay a bill, one can often get the bill reduced to less than half the original amount.

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