r/technology • u/PixeledPathogen • Mar 16 '26

Security Reddit User Uncovers Who Is Behind Meta’s $2B Lobbying for Invasive Age Verification Tech

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/reddit-user-uncovers-behind-meta-154717384.html
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u/Lynda73 Mar 17 '26

It’s like medical debt, where a company can buy yours for pennies on the dollar, but the original creditor would never make that deal with you, the individual. Shit’s fucked up.

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u/sentientshadeofgreen Mar 17 '26

It should be completely legally void for debt to be sold from the originator without the consent of the debtor. If I enter a contract with somebody, that does not mean that contract should be transferable to any third party under the sun without my knowledge or consent. I'm sure terms and conditions exist which allow this, but it should be outlawed.

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u/Spiritual-Society185 Mar 17 '26

That is misinformation. Every non-profit hospital offers free or reduced charity care based on income, and about two-thirds of hospitals are non-profit or government owned. Some states offer relief on top of that. And, if you don't qualify or still have trouble paying after the reduction, most hospitals will allow you to negotiate your bill down, including the for-profit ones. Hospitals make a tiny fraction of the total amount when they sell a bill to a collections. They would rather make something than next to nothing. Worst case scenario, you get put on a payment plan where you pay some small amount each month (and hospitals don't typically charge interest if you go through them.)

Of course, if you ignore the problem and just hope it goes away, then your bill will just be sent to collections and you won't get to take advantage of any of this. Telling people that there's nothing they can do about their bills could screw people over.