If you have ever been injured, been ill, or had surgery, you may be familiar with what comes next: you could be required to pay a significant amount for your medical treatment. No one else has it as hard as you to pay these bills on time. However, if they are not paid, the healthcare provider has the option of turning the bill on to a collection agency. According to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the most common cause for debt collectors to contact individuals is medical debt. When your medical debt goes to collections, it could hurt your credit score. And using a credit card to pay for medical bills could also have an effect.

Can Medical Bills Have an Impact on Your Credit?

Depending on how and when you pay your medical bills, they could hurt your credit score. When your health care provider sends your bill to a collection agency because you haven't paid it in a while, that's the most direct way. If that happens, it will hurt your credit scores, but it might not show up on your credit report for a year. If you use a credit card to pay for your medical bills, it could hurt your credit, especially if you can't pay off the balance or make the minimum payment. Using a credit card to pay a big medical bill could also hurt your credit usage ratio. This ratio shows how much of your available credit you're using, and it's a big part of how your credit score is calculated.

Know what you can do and how it might affect your credit score. Talk to your insurance company to find out about your coverage options, estimates from providers in your network, and other things. If you know this before you go to the doctor or have a procedure, you might not have to pay more money for your care. And if you can find cheaper options, your bill might not go to collections as often.

How Often Do Medical Bills Remain on Credit History?

A valid collection account can stay on your credit report for up to seven years, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Experian® says that the collection item will hurt your credit score less and less over time. And the three credit reporting agencies, TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax, just announced changes to how medical debt is reported. Because of these changes, the length of time that health bills stop on credit reports will change, and as much as 70 percent of medical collection loan can be paid from people's credit reports.

In the past, an already submitted medical collection loan might stay on an individual's credit report for more than 7 years. On July 1, 2022, medical debts that were in collections but had been paid off will be removed from credit reports. The credit reporting agencies also said unpaid medical debt wouldn't show up on credit reports for six months to a year. After 2023, medical collection debts that are less than $500 won't show up at all on credit reports.

What Is the Effect of Medical Bills on Your Credit?

Most of the time, medical bills don't appear on your credit report until you don't pay them and your doctor sends them to a collection agency. Equifax says that's because most healthcare providers don't send information to the three main credit bureaus. But when the account shows up on your credit report, it could hurt your scores. For instance, whether your FICO score was 680, to begin with, a collection item on your credit report could cause it to drop by 45 to 65 points. A 780 score could drop by up to 125 points.

How to Help Remove Medical Debt from Your Credit Reports

You could use AnnualCreditReport.com to keep an eye on your credit report. If you look at your credit report and see an incorrect medical collection debt, you could talk to the medical provider or collection agency connected to the debt. You can also talk to the credit bureau that gave you the wrong information and ask them to change it. Some of the information on your credit reports could change if you file a dispute. And these changes could affect how your credit scores are calculated. Because of this, you should check your credit report often for changes or mistakes.