Covid-19 and medical debt

[Faith527]

I suspect many will be filing bankruptcy in NY once the courts are opened (I assume you can also file now but everything is closed in NYS - just moving into phase 1 today).

One person I know has $250K in pharmacy bills alone - total bill of close to $900K - was on a ventilator for 3 weeks. Never mind the many I know who have put 3 months of mortgage payment on the back end of their mortgages.

It's disgusting to be without medical insurance in this pandemic!

Ugh.
Frustrated but grateful we have medical coverage.
Good luck and please use the bankruptcy laws available to you if you find yourself stuck with huge medical bills due to Covid-19!
Faith.

[justbroke]

Most major insurance companies have waived all co-payments related to COVID-19 test and treatment (including hospitalization). If someone doesn't have medical insurance, they should apply for Medicaid (or Medicare as appropriate) in their state. There are also other programs for those that have no way to pay medical bills so anyone with these extraordinary bills in this extraordinary time should spend as much time as possible to find these programs and apply for the benefits.

Yes, there will be a day of reckoning coming at some point. It may be very premature to file for bankruptcy at this time. It's likely better to wait until a person has exhausted all medical care and that they every bill has come due before using the nuclear option -- filing for bankruptcy.

New York was hit very hard and I still don't understand why it moved so quickly, and continues to move, through New York, despite unprecedented stay-at-home orders.

[sophieanne]

I was watching all the press conferences on the virus. When a question was asked about payment for treatment of people without insurance...it was stated that hospitals should send bills to the same place where testing bills were sent. That was stated by the president as I recall. I agree with Just Broke about waiting to file...you just don’t know what options could be coming. (I just confirmed and it was part of the money that would be used per the Cares Act)