Ch13 & a long term illness

[daylate]

Ok here is the scenario- Person is in debt of about 55k in cc's. Due to an illness last year he got behind in some payments and as a result interest rates were jacked up. Prior to the illness good credit score but still lots of debt.

The illness now requires treatment to the tune of about 1k per month which as of now doesn't appear to be covered by insurance. So in addition to the cc debt there could be 20-25k of medical debt tacked on. For awhile the treatments were 3 times a week so it added up quickly.

Treatment for this disease will be ongoing - for life probably. Some times monthly or even further apart sometimes more frequently possibly a couple of times a week.

So far job has been very understanding and he has now returned to work but with no sick time and no short term disability until 6 months of work have passed.

Makes over the median. I've tried to see if it is possible to qualify for a 7 with the extra 1k per month of medical expense but not sure if it flies if it is not cast in stone that he will have to have it every month.Right now it looks like he will for foreseeable future but for how long until it tapers off is anyone's guess. Even with the medical expense and a new car it is close for a 7.

So now we consider a 13. How would the payments for the treatments be handled in that scenario? Allowed? What happens if they become less frequent? Or if they suddenly have to be increased? Each treatment is a thousand dollars.

If he stays able to work, the 13 makes a lot of sense to me. Eliminates the interest on his debt and hopefully allows for the payment for treatment going forward. He earns good bonuses so he should be able to get out of this faster than 60 months if he is able to work. Again the question comes up what happens if he is unable to work for 3-6 months? Do payments get suspended? if so for how long? If plan gets dismissed for lack of payments what happens? If he loses his job then converting to a 7 as soon as possible is a no brainer but as long as he continues to return to work it won't work.

Lots of rambling here. Has anyone ever dealt with this kind of situation? Any and all advice/thoughts would be appreciated here. having just gone through this for myself (successful 7) I am totally drained but feel obligated to research this for my son.

Thanks for any help.

[lrprn]

First of all, I regret your son is having serious, chronic health issues. Please wish him our best and I hope his condition (whatever it is) stabilizes and improves.

The best thing for your son to do is take all his current debts, income over the last six months, and living expenses to at least 3-4 experienced bk lawyers in his area who frequently file both Ch 7 and 13 cases. During those free initial consultations, he'll hear multiple opinions on how to best deal with this difficult and ongoing situation.

Tough times for sure. Chronic, expensive health problems in our country don't allow very much financial wiggle room (if any) when you aren't wealthy.

[Pandora]

The illness now requires treatment to the tune of about 1k per month which as of now doesn't appear to be covered by insurance. So in addition to the cc debt there could be 20-25k of medical debt tacked on. For awhile the treatments were 3 times a week so it added up quickly.

Treatment for this disease will be ongoing - for life probably. Some times monthly or even further apart sometimes more frequently possibly a couple of times a week.

sorry to hear your son is ill, chronic illnesses are hard to deal with.

The big area of concern I see is if he pulls the BK trigger now, yet will have ongoing medical to the tune of $1K per month, anything he racks up after filing is his to pay; BK cannot be filed again for 8 years.

Is there some reason ins. will not cover any part of his care for this illness? Does it meet SSD requirements for a disability? Has he factored in LWOP for time missed from work, does FMLA apply? Has he checked into the facilities' financial discounts due to having to self pay?

[daylate]

Pandora, the ongoing nature is my big concern-in addition to the treatments he could wind up out of work for a prolonged period of time.I'm looking at ways to get him into a 7 but that is dicey. The 1k per month if it was an ongoing certainty(it may be it may not be needed for periods of time), would definitely help that case, although I would rather see him not need the treatment. Ugh! So far he only had 2 or 3 days WOP, all else was covered by PTO or disability. Due to the nature of his illness, the disability only covers 15 days in the hospital. Another great aspect of our health insurance system. PTO will start accruing now that he is back to work. Lots of ways to look at this. I need to talk to him about asking for the self-pay discount. Thanks for your thoughts and yours too lrprn.

[Pandora]

daylate

Just make sure that he checks into the FMLA for those days that he has to use LWOP; I do believe FMLA can be broken up over the course of the allowable timeframe. If they dont have FMLA where he is, have him check with HR and see if they have a leave bank (like a sick bank) or some other type of LWOP reg he can use to his benefit.

Again, I dont know the nature of his illness, but you can also write into his ins. company and request a formal hearing type of thing to see if they will make the exception to pay something towards his treatments.

[daylate]

he has used FMLA but it doesn't pay. Thanks again for your advice. Will definitely not give up the insurance angle without a fight.