Government funded healthcare on some level would help to alleviate a modicum of this catastrophe. I doubt it would be a magic bullet but medical debt damages society by incentivizing disaster health care instead of preventive care.
When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested
21–30 of 233 posts
Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested
#22My life was ruined by badly done, and even worse ultimately unneeded surgery. That privilege initially cost me many thousands, along with career and insurance going away, and the subsequent struggle to survive since has cost multiples of that. My entire future billed away. For a time I was able to avoid collectors because of a significant savings a frugal life had left me, but as time goes on you have to choose betwe…
Take your savings and move out of the country.
I lived abroad in the past. Had a much better life and healthcare. But now that savings is so small and my health so limited I cannot just "move". I wouldn't be able to sustain myself financially. There are immigration requirements I cannot meet. I would love nothing more to leave. But even then things are so bad with pain and health I would never have a good life, maybe just a survivable one in a more comfortable environment for me. But again, the consequences of what was done to me here has taken away the ability to immigrate as per usual. An amazing member of this site once offered to help me with his company abroad and I fought to make that happen but more and more health and financial issues kept hitting me and I couldn't make it happen. When even such an accommodative thing won't work out it robs you of all hope. Occasional rants, when energy and pain allows (the real killer), seem my only attribute at this point. The dying gasps of an angry man.
Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested
#23My life was ruined by badly done, and even worse ultimately unneeded surgery. That privilege initially cost me many thousands, along with career and insurance going away, and the subsequent struggle to survive since has cost multiples of that. My entire future billed away. For a time I was able to avoid collectors because of a significant savings a frugal life had left me, but as time goes on you have to choose betwe…
Have you looked at bankruptcy options? Medical debt ruined my life. Bankruptcy got my life back.
Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Get involved. Support local and regional elected officials or candidates that share your views on healthcare, the progressive movement is growing rapidly in the US for this very reason. One of the biggest problems in American politics is that everyone is caught up in the blood sport that is Federal politics while not paying attention to what's going on in lower offices. Yes, healthcare is and will always be a Federal…
Why does healthcare have to be a federal issue?
It theoretically doesn't, but practically speaking, you're talking about risk pools. Those work better when they're larger.
Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested
#25My life was ruined by badly done, and even worse ultimately unneeded surgery. That privilege initially cost me many thousands, along with career and insurance going away, and the subsequent struggle to survive since has cost multiples of that. My entire future billed away. For a time I was able to avoid collectors because of a significant savings a frugal life had left me, but as time goes on you have to choose betwe…
Stories like these are why I feel like the medical system in America is extremist, and not a rational, pragmatic, or effective system. We are like the North Korea of healthcare.
Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you dont have the money to pay bills how do you afford to get to court ? Being poor is illegal ;)
Court is just a building in town. If you are healthy, you can just walk there. The bigger problem in this case is that the people being sent to court probably cannot easily walk there, because they are unhealthy. It’s effectively criminalizing illness.
This argument is preposterous.
There are so many reasons poor people find it difficult to appear in court. A huge, and very easy to imagine, issue is that poor people tend not to have time flexibility; with everyone screaming at them to pick up another job, how could they possibly appear in court as well?
Another very easy to imagine issue is getting healthcare outside of this “town” everyone seems to live in in the above argument, could make appearing in court difficult as well.
The argument that “all poor people are fat and ill” is not just lazy, but outright ridiculous.
Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested
#27Highest prison population in the world by both per capita and total number, and people get thrown in jail because they can't pay their medical bills. How much more corrupt can this country get? What do we do when voting doesn't make a difference?
As I read the OP they get thrown in jail for not appearing in court. Isn’t that very different?
It is not very different. People don't show up for a variety of reasons, including inability[1] and plaintiff shenanigans[2].
But yes, people looking for a reason to blame the victim will use process arguments like that to ignore the reality of what is happening.
[1] We're talking about people with medical issues and no money; that can mean no car or no house or no personal mobility.
[2] As anecdata, someone I know was sued for nonpayment of a loan. Papers were served by mail and arrived the day of the hearing; postal carrier timing meant it arrived right as she would have had to appear, even if she hadn't been at work. Default judgement, and she didn't have the money to hire a lawyer to contest it. See how that works?
Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested
#28My life was ruined by badly done, and even worse ultimately unneeded surgery. That privilege initially cost me many thousands, along with career and insurance going away, and the subsequent struggle to survive since has cost multiples of that. My entire future billed away. For a time I was able to avoid collectors because of a significant savings a frugal life had left me, but as time goes on you have to choose betwe…
Have you looked at bankruptcy options? Medical debt ruined my life. Bankruptcy got my life back.
I appreciate the advice. I may not have been clear in my rant but I am not in legal debt presently. If it were medical debt from a recoverable position and with support it would be a different story. I have skirted it by paying up front from savings or not seeking/getting care if it cost too much (a decision many have to make here) as I know in my condition and situation I would never recover once that happens. I will end things before that if faced with it. But conditions keep worsening making me fear that outcome. I was denied any governmental assistance even with lawyers and years of effort and my partial medical retirement pension has no medical insurance or benefits and isn't even enough for all needs itself, let alone extreme medical costs. I have been living with hyper-conservative family who have made things quite difficult for me, blaming me because my situation flies in the face of their beliefs, and that is coming to and end soon as I am blamed for their pre-existing 4th marriage issues being a convenient target.
Basically once you are removed from the ability to control and maintain independent life, to the normal degree most can, and there is no support network or safety net to rely on, you are faced with hits from every side which amplify each other and no matter how hard you try and what you do the exponential weight is crushing. There just wasn't enough help from family or systems when it would have enabled me to recover, and now I will never recover and there is even less help, meaning none, to survive when you are dependent. Likely since I have to move, I will just pack up and go abroad by end of year with whats left, rent a tiny flat for as long as I can, and hope a miracle takes place somehow before I am forced to flip the switch off. I don't have the funds, health, or support to survive anywhere legally or continuously alone...but I refuse for my last breaths to be here. Sorry for the anger...cathartic dumping as I have no real ear to bend regularly. It's been a rough few decades ;)
Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested
#29It’s almost like parts of the U.S. never made it to the 20th century...
www.nytimes.com/2018/05/22/opinion/alabama-poverty-sewers.amp.html
Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
As I read the OP they get thrown in jail for not appearing in court. Isn’t that very different?
It is not very different. People don't show up for a variety of reasons, including inability[1] and plaintiff shenanigans[2]. But yes, people looking for a reason to blame the victim will use process arguments like that to ignore the reality of what is happening. [1] We're talking about people with medical issues and no money; that can mean no car or no house or no personal mobility. [2] As anecdata, someone I know w…
I was sued and the order to appear never arrived. I spoke to the judge and she said it doesn't matter. If it was sent out with USPS, it's considered delivered. They don't have to prove it was even delivered.