Stephanie Allyn has courageously and successfully been battling bipolar disorder in recent years – but there was another problem she couldn’t tackle on her own.
That was a several-thousand-dollar bill from a medical center near her home in Georgia.
Stepanie, who’s 56 and a widow with three adult children, had no luck on her own trying to get the $5,004 bill from Tanner Medical Center forgiven.
But an internet search for organizations that help with medical debt led her right to Dollar For. With Dollar For working with her, she applied in April, and by the next month, the bill was erased.
“It was one huge headache I don’t have to worry about” now, says Stephanie, a retired flight attendant with Delta Airlines. “When you get it forgiven, it’s like the biggest relief you’ve felt in your life.”
Her husband’s death in 2013 triggered bipolar episodes. She would get them under control but sometimes relapse. In recent years, “it really started to snowball, and the (hospital) bills really started adding up, ” Stephanie says.
She had been trying to work things out with the hospital system on her own. No one there told her anything about financial assistance, she says. Nor did they seem willing to help her with her hospital bill until Dollar For got involved, she recalls.
She has some advice for others facing a large hospital bill they can’t pay. First, start with an organization like Dollar For.
“Don’t try to do it on your own, because hospitals won’t tell you anything,” she says. “My hospital didn’t tell me anything, they just kept saying it would go to collections – until Dollar For stepped in, they weren’t really looking closely at it.”
The internet, she says, “is an interesting place, it’s overwhelming and sometimes you can get lost (there), but if you find somebody that can help you, that medical debt is definitely surmountable.”
Having the hospital bill canceled also means Stephanie, who has faced financial struggles in recent years, can now concentrate on paying off other bills that threaten her home.
“It’s been a tough last few months, that’s for sure, but this is one less debt I have to worry about,” she says.
She is more than willing to talk about her bipolar disorder – which now is under control thanks to a new medication.
“I’m glad I can help somebody” by being willing to talk about it honestly, she says. Stephanie is in the process of earning a master’s degree in psychology so she can become a mental health counselor and help others who face the condition.