More Bills....ugh!

I got a letter in the mail last night for us setting up the payments for Cole's physicians.  The bill was $364, even after we've already paid some of them and now they're saying it's $2,436.54.  This is correct after going through the rest of our EOBs.  However, when I called to make the first $50 payment they told me we had to now make 10% payments which is $243/month.  YIKES!  Too much!  I asked if there was any discount for us to take money out of our emergency savings to pay this and she said we could write a settlement letter.  I had never heard of this.  Apparently, people write these when they've been turned into a collections agency and can pay off a portion in return for it being squared away with the creditor.  I got the fax number and simply asked if we can either continue paying $50/month or get a discount for taking money from our non HSA savings account.  It may not sound like much, but $243 to leave into our HSA will allow us to pay for dental and all of his bills, possibly, by the end of the year.  I'd rather owe myself than them, but if we don't get a discount it's not worth taking it out of my savings account and $243/month is a lot to expect a family of 7 to pay.  I haven't even had a car loan that high in 12+ years.  I can't afford it.  That's why!

So, I'm hoping this lady named Kim will consider either option.  I'd rather the 10% savings, but would take either because it would really, really help us.  Who knows what next year will bring and I'm sure our out-of-pocket max will be higher than the $6600 it is this year.  That's the trend....it only goes up!