With the recent economic decline, the recent buzz is about mortgage foreclosures and unpaid credits cards. Another major financial issue many Americans struggle with is outstanding medical bills.
A recent Newsweek article for Health News Digest discussed the measures taken by patients and hospitals as medical bills remain unpaid. This growing problem is causing serious financial stress and sometimes health insurance isn’t the answer.
Often people with insurance wind up facing thousands of dollars in medical bills because of deductibles, exclusions and co-payments that add up. Other people have no medical insurance at all. In these instances, people frequently wind up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.
Recently AARP used a series of bankruptcy stories in their ad campaigns. The medical-debt crisis reached new proportions as people claim bankruptcy to stop debt collection and get out from under massive medical bills they simply can’t pay.
A study conducted by Commonwealth fund, a health policy research group based in New York, found more than 2 in 5 adults under the age of 65 had difficulty paying medical bills last year. For 29 percent of the adults, medical bills left them struggle necessities such as food.
Usually people stop paying their medical bills before they stop paying their mortgage. In fact, the Commonwealth study also revealed 30 percent of the people racked up credit card debt for medical bills. People continue tend to pay mortgages and credit cards but stop paying for medical bills.
As medical bills remains outstanding, the credit reporting agencies are informed. Your credit rating declines and debt collection begins. If the bills total thousands of dollars, you may not know where to begin.
Bankruptcy is a possible solution to this stressful financial problem. Get together your unpaid medical bills and discuss them with a professional bankruptcy attorney to find out your options. A financially free future may be closer than you think.
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