NY Times - "From the Hospital to Bankruptcy Court"

[TomCADem]

Here is a timely story on bankruptcies caused by medical bills:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/health/policy/25bankruptcy.html?_r=1&hp

NASHVILLE — Some of the debtors sitting forlornly in this city’s old stone bankruptcy court have lost a job or gotten divorced. Others have been summoned to face their creditors because they spent mindlessly beyond their means. But all too often these days, they are there merely because they, or their children, got sick.

Wes and Katie Covington, from Smyrna, Tenn., were already in debt from a round of fertility treatments when complications with her pregnancy and surgery on his knee left them with unmanageable bills. For Christine L. Phillips of Nashville, it was a $10,000 trip to the emergency room after a car wreck, on the heels of costly operations to remove a cyst and repair a damaged nerve.

Jodie and Charlie Mullins of Dickson, Tenn., were making ends meet on his patrolman’s salary until she developed debilitating back pain that required spinal surgery and forced her to quit nursing school. As with many medical bankruptcies, they had health insurance but their policy had a $3,000 deductible and, to their surprise, covered only 80 percent of their costs.

“I always promised myself that if I ever got in trouble, I’d work two jobs to get out of it,” said Mr. Mullins, a 16-year veteran of the Dickson police force. “But it gets to the point where two or three or four jobs wouldn’t take care of it. The bills just were out of sight.”

Although statistics are elusive, there is a general sense among bankruptcy lawyers and court officials, in Nashville as elsewhere, that the share of personal bankruptcies caused by illness is growing.

[madrchsod]

1. this great healthcare reform will not address this problem

i have insurance and i`m 15,000 in debt because of medical bills. other than my house payment that is the only debt i have. i`m facing at least one or two surgeries next year which will ad to that total.

another thing that no one wants to talk about is if you owe a clinic,doctor,or hospital they could deny you treatment.

[JPZenger]

4. Reform Bill Would Make it Easier to Buy Good Insurance

We do need to look at the bankruptcy law again regarding medical debts. However, the health care reform would help this situation by making qualily health insurance more affordable. Too many people can only afford crappy insurance coverage today.

[Greyhound]

2. .

[JPZenger]

3. k and r