Medical bills after plan confirmation

[cz3ch]

I received confirmation on 2/18/13 and have been making my plan payments without a problem.

I recently became very ill and do not have insurance through my job and as a result I was admitted to the ER 3x in the past month and now have 10k in hospital bills that I'm going to have trouble affording and staying in plan.

Since I'm still in the Chapter 13 bankruptcy is there any way to amend the schedules to include this debt? Or am I stuck with it and possibly killing my credit yet again?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[LadyInTheRed]

You can't include the new debt in your current BK. But, depending on the details of your plan, you may be able to modify the plan to include your increased medical expenses and allow you to pay the hospital bill. There may also be other options. Time to call your attorney.

I hope you are doing better!

[berkeleygl]

I would also encourage you to call the hospital and see if you can negotiate with them. I have about $3K outstanding from an unexpected hospitalization in December, and I pay back about $200/month to the hospital.

[cz3ch]

You can't include the new debt in your current BK. But, depending on the details of your plan, you may be able to modify the plan to include your increased medical expenses and allow you to pay the hospital bill. There may also be other options. Time to call your attorney.

I hope you are doing better!

My plan payment is pretty low due to my tight budget (100/mo plan payment) so I'm not sure if they could do much to modify it. I've emailed my lawyer for further advice. I'm also going to call the hospital to try to negotiate payment arrangements.

What happens if I can't afford to pay the hospital bills? Does it go against my credit again?

[cz3ch]

I would also encourage you to call the hospital and see if you can negotiate with them. I have about $3K outstanding from an unexpected hospitalization in December, and I pay back about $200/month to the hospital.

I'm waiting for all the bills to come in and will call the hospital to see what I can do. I'm already on a tight budget with my plan so it's going to be really tough.

[teddybeardj]

We had the same thing happen days after we filed. My wife got pneumonia and was in the hospital for three days. The bill was very high, and that was with our $1500 deductible and 20% copay. So I wrote an email to the hospital and told them we were in a Chapter 13 and that everything we made was going to the plan. The wrote our entire part off and zeroed the account. We were very clear that we can't begin paying them for three years or would try to pay a little at a time. But they chose to write it off.

[cz3ch]

An Update:

My total sum for my hospital stay is around 20k now and I don't have the money to pay it. I've applied for Medicaid and charities to try to help pay the debt but nothing has worked out so far. I don't have the extra money right now to pay the hospital and they've already turned me over to collections.

I'm continuously writing letters in response to the debt letting them know I'm in a chapter 13 bankruptcy and all disposable income is being allocated to the plan and that I would be willing to pay them after the plan is complete. But they continue to send me harassing notes about collecting the debt.

My lawyers said that all I can do is try to negotiate since the debt was post-plan/filing.

I'm in Texas, what's the worst thing they can do? Take me to court? Sue me? Garnish what little wages I currently receive? I've read that they can't garnish your wages for debt in Texas however they may be able to freeze a bank account and suck it dry. If they tried to do that I would be in a bad situation and could not pay my monthly bills as my job direct deposits my check into my bank account.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks!

[keepmine]

Haven't read all of your posts but, could you convert to a Chapter 7?

[cz3ch]

Haven't read all of your posts but, could you convert to a Chapter 7?

I had originally filed under a chapter 7 but was over the median income and had to convert to a chapter 13. So from my understanding I can't convert back either way. I'm ok with staying in the Chapter 13 plan however I'm not sure how to handle this newly accrued debt.

[keepmine]

I wonder, given the $100/month payback if it's possible to take a good hard look at your expenses-like, getting health insurance- and see if that would elimenate any available disposable income.

[cz3ch]

I wonder, given the $100/month payback if it's possible to take a good hard look at your expenses-like, getting health insurance- and see if that would elimenate any available disposable income.

Well I can't get health insurance on my own since I have a pre-existing condition. My company doesn't offer it at this time either. However I'm being offered a new job that will provide benefits which will cost me a certain amount per month.

The bottom-line is I don't have the money to pay all these medical bills so I'm trying to figure out how best to handle it and do the right thing. It's really tough when you're cash-strapped and in a plan at the same time.

[keepsmiling]

At 100 a month payment you must have been awfully close to median.
I'd consider dropping the 13 and figuring out how to get into a 7. Shouldn't be hard to eat up 100 a month. It's not enough to buy medical insurance but it should be enough for something. Talk to a different lawyer too!
Gonna take this opportunity to vent one more time about health insurance and the insane cost of medical care. It's really a crime that this country is so backward in providing care for its citizens. Really it's positively uncivilized. My number one issue and still haven't filed because of it. Those who have good coverage just don't know how lucky they are. The idiotic insurance I have won't pay for a dr. visit on the same day as surgery. And apparently, a cortisone shot is "surgery". So that's 275 bucks (!) they want from me for the dr. visit that I don't have, not to mention the mri's, pt, blah blah blah. Crazy

[keepmine]

I think that one of the provisions of The Affordable Care Act that went into effect immediately was, insurance companies can't deny you based on pre existing conditions.
Take a look at this site: www.healthcare.gov

Depending on your income, you'll get a tax credit that can be applied to insurance premiums starting next Jan. Might give you some preplanning ides.

[keepsmiling]

All we need is some local agency with counselors savvy enough to guide us through the maze. And to hope it doesn't get repealed. Still not sure if I should go back to school in September or not to get more of this crappy cheap-ish insurance.

OP, can you send these idiots 5 bucks a month to try to keep them at bay for a little while? I wonder. Otherwise you may have to start asking about having your check sent elsewhere, maybe directly to a debit card. Sucks I know. Do double check your laws. At least TX is more debtor-friendly than NJ.

[LadyInTheRed]

I think that one of the provisions of The Affordable Care Act that went into effect immediately was, insurance companies can't deny you based on pre existing conditions.

It only went into effect immediately for children under 19. It goes into effect for everybody else in 2014. Unfortunately, Congress has not sufficiently funded the Preexisting Conditions Insurance Plan that was created under the Act to help people get coverage until 2014, so the plan stopped accepting new enrollees in February.