Medical debt and your credit score

Medical bills, like any unpaid debt, can do major damage to your finances if left unresolved. The delinquent bill will eventually show up on your credit report and drag down your credit score. 
There is some good news, though. Medical debt is treated somewhat differently from other unpaid accounts, like credit cards or student loans. Unlike traditional lenders, your doctor or hospital typically doesn't report unpaid bills to a credit reporting agency. Healthcare providers usually send the unpaid bill to a debt collector, which in turn reports it. So, it may take more time for an unpaid medical bill to show up on your credit report and hurt your credit score.
New regulations that kicked in last September make it harder for medical debt to hurt your credit score. The three major credit reporting agencies have to wait 180 days before putting an unpaid medical bill on your credit report. Unpaid medical bills that later get paid by your insurer must be removed from your credit report, so they don’t continue to damage your credit score.
Monitor your credit reports, and if the bad debt doesn’t disappear, write to the credit reporting agencies to request that the debt be erased and provide proof of payment by the insurer.