--- title: "Expecting the Unexpected: How Medical Lending Can Help Patients Pay Their Medical Bills" description: "Expecting the Unexpected: How medical lending can help patients pay their medical bills Learn More From Epic River!" image: https://blog.epicriver.com/hubfs/Picture2-1.png --- [![Epic River](https://blog.epicriver.com/hs-fs/hubfs/color-transparent-logo.png?width=320&name=color-transparent-logo.png "Epic River")](http://www.epicriver.com/home) - [Home](https://www.epicriver.com/) - [About](https://www.epicriver.com/about) - [Our Solution](https://www.epicriver.com/) - [News](https://epicriver.com/#) - [Contact](https://www.epicriver.com/) - [Support](https://knowledge.epicriver.com/knowledge/kb-tickets/new) - [Knowledgebase](https://knowledge.epicriver.com/knowledge) ![blog_bg-2023-1](https://blog.epicriver.com/hubfs/blog_bg-2023-1.png "blog_bg-2023-1") # Expecting the Unexpected: How Medical Lending Can Help Patients Pay Their Medical Bills Posted by [Jessica Toney](https://blog.epicriver.com/author/jessica-toney) | Oct 21, 2019, 10:17:40 AM - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) ![](https://blog.epicriver.com/hubfs/Picture2-1.png) Unexpected medical bills are a major concern for 67% of patients. And [according to NPR](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/06/18/733369370/texas-is-latest-state-to-attack-surprise-medical-bills)[,](https://blog.epicriver.com/expecting-the-unexpected-how-medical-lending-can-help-patients-pay-their-medical-bills#_msocom_1) that’s more than the percentage of people who worry about the cost of food, rent, and even gas. Surprise medical bills are a popular topic of late with new state legislation banning the practice. Yet stories of surprise billing are still emerging, showing how damaging this problem can really be for your patients. Keep reading for 3 stories about devastating surprise medical bills and learn how to help patients pay with medical lending. **1. The Patient Who Ran into Charity Care Barriers** In 2016, [KHN reported](https://khn.org/news/patients-eligible-for-charity-care-instead-get-big-bills/) on a patient who sought care for a pain in her abdomen. With no insurance and two young children at home, the patient requested financial aid to cover the cost of care. Instead, she received a surprise bill for more than $800—a debt she had to damage her credit to cover. **2. The Patient Who Had a Heart Attack and Got a $100k Bill** NPR recently interviewed a patient who was rushed to the ER for a heart attack in 2017. Implanted stints saved his life, but the cost nearly put him into debt. Despite having insurance, he sought care at an out-of-network hospital and later got a bill for more than $100,000. **3. The Patient who Went In-Network and Got an Out-of-Network Bill** Earlier in 2019, [Vox covered the story](https://www.vox.com/health-care/2019/3/19/18233051/surprise-medical-bills-arbitration-new-york) of a patient who went to an in-network surgeon for spinal surgery. When the bill arrived, though, she discovered the surgeon had made a mistake-- he wasn’t in-network. Her insurance only covered a portion of the $101,000 bill and the patient was stuck with more than $35,000 in out-of-pocket responsibilities. **Help Patients Pay with Medical Lending** As a provider, your job is to help patients, not hurt them. But when surprise bills are unavoidable, the patient experience suffers. Next time your patients can’t afford the cost of care, you need to tell them about Epic River’s medical lending program. All patients are approved for low-interest loans regardless of creditworthiness and have the option to pay their bills over time. Contact us today to find out how our program can help avoid a surprise billing story at your hospital. Topics: [Medical Lending](https://blog.epicriver.com/topic/medical-lending) #### Written by [Jessica Toney](https://blog.epicriver.com/author/jessica-toney) ## Leave a Comment ### Recent Posts ### Topics - [Bankadelic (2)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/bankadelic) - [banking opportunities (6)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/banking-opportunities) - [Blog (5)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/blog) - [CRA ratings (1)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/cra-ratings) - [Credit Unions (5)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/credit-unions) - [DAR (1)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/dar) - [esignature services (1)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/esignature-services) - [Financial Education (2)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/financial-education) - [financial institutions (10)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/financial-institutions) - [Health Care Loans (19)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/health-care-loans) - [health credit services (6)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/health-credit-services) - [health credit services online (11)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/health-credit-services-online) - [healthcare administration (4)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/healthcare-administration) - [healthcare administrative costs (1)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/healthcare-administrative-costs) - [healthcare billing (2)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/healthcare-billing) - [healthcare billing solutions (3)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/healthcare-billing-solutions) - [healthcare costs (1)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/healthcare-costs) - [healthcare finance (6)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/healthcare-finance) - [Healthcare Finance Online (13)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/healthcare-finance-online) - [healthcare financing (2)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/healthcare-financing) - [healthcare lending (3)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/healthcare-lending) - [healthcare loans (4)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/healthcare-loans) - [hospital financing (3)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/hospital-financing) - [Lending as a Service (7)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/lending-as-a-service) - [low-interest medical loans (2)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/low-interest-medical-loans) - [medical bill financing (2)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/medical-bill-financing) - [medical billing (7)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/medical-billing) - [medical billing solutions (7)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/medical-billing-solutions) - [medical debt (4)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/medical-debt) - [medical finance (2)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/medical-finance) - [Medical Lending (24)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/medical-lending) - [Medical Loan Financing (18)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/medical-loan-financing) - [medical loans (7)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/medical-loans) - [News (78)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/news) - [patient billing solutions (1)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/patient-billing-solutions) - [patient financial services (5)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/patient-financial-services) - [Patient Financing (26)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/patient-financing) - [patient lending (19)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/patient-lending) - [patient loans (3)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/patient-loans) - [patient responsibility (3)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/patient-responsibility) - [patient satisfaction (1)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/patient-satisfaction) - [Podcast Feature (3)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/podcast-feature) - [price transparency (1)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/price-transparency) - [reduce DAR (2)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/reduce-dar) - [revenue cycle management for physicians (2)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/revenue-cycle-management-for-physicians) - [Team (1)](https://blog.epicriver.com/tag/team) see all ### Subscribe #### About Us Our commitment to utilize the lowest cost of capital and remove all unnecessary overhead from the loan process enables us to help everyone make the best possible financial decision when borrowing money. #### Latest Blog Posts #### Contact Us 242 Linden Street Fort Collins, CO 80524 Phone: (970) 292-5045 Email: info@epicriver.com © 2020 Epic River - - -