Traveler health insurance question

Hi – My mother in law visited us in CA last year. She had to see couple doctors due to stomach issues and had bought a Patriot America (using UHC Network) plan. Some of the claims were denied by insurance due to pre-existing/other reasons. We disputed the denials with the insurance company, they reviewed but once again denied all those claims and took good several months to do that. Meanwhile, doctor's office and Quest sent their bills to collection.

Now, she is trying to negotiate with collection agencies to offer a discounted settlement since amounts are too high for her. Couple questions she has: 1. How much discount should she expect to get from collections? This is our first time dealing with such situation so not sure if 20% is good enough or can we negotiate more? 2. She doesn't have SSN/TIN, so would the debt affect her in any way like immigration, future health insurance purchase, anything else?

submitted by /u/Crypticlight
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