“As far as hatzoleh helping the person pay the bill, I don’t see why that would be insurance fraud. I don’t think the insurance cares where you got the money to pay them.”
NCB: The primary reason insurance carriers create a copay or deductible is specifically to discourage unnecessary over-utilization of medical services. If medical providers waived/forgave copays/deductibles, patients would use the medical providers more frequently, costing the insurance carriers more. As such, virtually all the insurance carriers contracts with providers specifically prohibit them from waiving/forgiving payment of copays or deductibles and require they make a serious attempt to collect those fees. And they carry severe penalties for providers who violate this provision.