There's an organization called RIP Medical Debt that takes donations, uses the money to buy medical debt, then forgives the debt, which (should) clear any credit rating problems. John Oliver even covered the issue on one of his programs, and mentioned RIP Medical Debt. His program then donated enough money to clear millions of dollars in medical debt.
Looks like there are some questions that still needs to be answered about whether this is necessary and if there are still consequences (like tax) for doing so.
The last medical bill my family had was something like $3500 and the longest term the hospital offered was 6 months, at $580/mo.
I'm sure they're not all the same, but I could certainly see an unexpected $580/mo being able to cripple a family living paycheck to paycheck.
