Protecting Your Rights And Your Future

High medical deductibles create underinsured workers nationwide

| Jan 9, 2015 | Medical Debt

There is continuing national crisis regarding the direction  and handling of medical bill debt, according to an extensive expose in USA Today. With more than half of the insured people in Arkansas and in the rest of the country being covered by insurance plans through their employers, many workers are coming more and more to experience the ravages of underinsured coverage. Instead of finding ways to buy plans with lower deductibles, employers have almost exclusively chosen group plans that emphasize higher and higher deductibles, which makes the premiums more palatable to employers.

But those high deductibles largely fall on the shoulders of the employees. An individual making between $30,000 and $40,000 per year will thus find it virtually impossible to pay high out-of-pocket deductibles and still survive economically. Furthermore, the inequity of such half-hearted coverage is felt most dramatically by those who are fighting chronic, sometimes terminal diseases.

In those most intense instances, many individuals find it necessary to file a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in order to stay afloat. A Chapter 7 will eliminate all medical bill debt and credit card debt quickly and efficiently, without the individual or married couple usually having to suffer the loss of personal or real property assets. Through a consultation with a qualified bankruptcy attorney, individuals and married couples can learn whether they qualify for this powerful relief provided by federal law.

In some instances, the underinsured employee may turn to the easy prospect of charging medical bill debt through credit cards. However, that practice always reaches a point of maximum overload, where even minimum monthly payments cannot be handled. A consumer bankruptcy filing often turns out to be the only viable life-saving option.

In those instances, a Chapter 7 will usually wipe out all of the medical debt and all of the credit card debt. There are rules and requirements for qualifying for such relief. Underinsured Arkansas residents who are suffering the pain and stress of overloaded medical and credit card debt may benefit greatly by learning their legal rights through a consultation with an experienced bankruptcy attorney.

Source: USA Today, “Dilemma over deductibles: Costs crippling middle class“, Laura Ungar and Jane O’Donnell, Jan.1, 2015

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