Bankruptcy and Medical Care For a party hell bent on taking away “undeserved” benefits from those they deem undeserving, it is just amazing that they insist on giving these same people the best, most incredibly expensive health care in the world for free. Anyone ill or injured can show up at an emergency room and get absolutely free health care. You just have to need it…your ability to pay is discussed later. If you have no money, it is folded into the total costs of the hospital and passed on as increased insurance costs. And since these incidents usually run into several thousand dollars for what could cost a couple of hundred dollars if caught earlier, it is a big difference in insurance costs. It is estimated that the cost of treating uninsured people who fail to pay costs $1,000 per insured person per year. But what if you have some assets. You can need mega-treatment and exceed your lifetime insurance cap which is really easy to do. Or you just chose to take the risk of not buying health insurance and the gamble didn’t pay off. What happens to those big money bills and your assets? The solution of choice for these people is bankruptcy. Approximately 75% of all bankruptcies are the result of health issues. But still, what happens? They go into defense mode and there is a whole industry of attorneys who will instruct them in how to do it. Note: From 1994 to 1998 I was employed in corporate America. (another recession and “The Carolyn” got me a job…she made me dye my hair) I refer to these as the wilderness years. Beyond sad and disappointing in how our country does business…the waste is astounding. I was the regional credit manager for 10 big box supply stores in California. When the east coast parent company declared bankruptcy, the corporate credit director from Boston said “cowabunga, dude” and came out and took my job. GRRR!!!! I took advantage of a government program to retrain old grumpy people and became a paralegal. Because of my construction and real estate experience, I worked for some very high dollar attorneys doing bankruptcies and litigation for some really large construction companies, suppliers, and their owners. The following information is from my experience. You can verify the facts on the internet, but you won’t find the strategy there. It is unethical! It is also business as usual. A good defense mode attorney will give you a worksheet regarding your financial condition and then ask you questions in order to fill it out. When they ask a question, they tell you why they are asking the question such as: “Is this medical expense over because if you declare now, your future expense will not be included for seven years.” “Have you bought anything on a credit card in the past year other than dinners and living expenses such as a TV because those purchases might not be discharged” “If you have an outstanding tax bill, you can’t pay it with your credit card as that would be considered fraud and your card company could protest. You can pay normal living expenses though.” It doesn’t take too many questions before things start adding up such as you are allowed to keep so much equity in your house (so if you are underwater, now is the time) and a vehicle (another vehicle if you don’t have equity in it). Boats usually go away…sometimes to quiet garages. Timelines and dates become important and people go home to get their stuff together. These are usually nice people who are in crisis, and when they resort to bankruptcy, it doesn’t take long until they become aggressive. Creditors are allowed to see your paperwork and protest. A well-known restauranteur walked into the office on the last day of the protest period and withdrew $250,000 of art as personal property. There are people who do this every seven years because, even though unethical, it can be and is profitable as well as a high riding lifestyle. Defense mode means getting your stuff together because if you have to do it, you might as well do it right. That means that the illness that could have been solved inexpensively if caught early…that became a hugely inflated medical bill and maybe the final straw… becomes a giant ugly hit on our economy. And it happens every day. And Obamacare solves all of this. Sheesh.
Posted on: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 20:22:16 +0000
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