As a bankruptcy lawyer in Florida I see potential clients every week who hope to find a way to eliminate thousands of dollars in debt and start over with their lives. Some people get themselves into trouble because they gamble or misuse credit cards. Sometimes their businesses fail or they lost their job and couldn't find another position with a comparable salary. I have the most compassion for those people who have thousands of dollars in medical bills because of health insurance issues.
One woman came to me who had been fighting breast cancer. Her company went through some cutbacks, and she had lost her job and health insurance while she was going through treatments. Without those cancer treatments she would die, and she was responding well to them. Her health insurance company refused to cover her through COBRA, so she paid for her treatments and medications using credit cards. Her cancer was in remission when she came to me, but her credit card debt was over $150,000.
Another man came to me after he had been in a car accident and had been in a coma for several weeks. He had just gotten a new job and his health insurance would kick in after a 90-day probation period. When he got into his car, life was good and he had everything to look forward to. Without warning and without knowing it, he ended up in the hospital unconscious with several broken bones. After he woke up he had to stay in the hospital for a while and eventually was moved to a nursing home to get therapy. He lost his job, and now he was about to lose his house. The accident was the other person's fault, and neither the other driver nor my client had the proper car insurance to cover my client's injuries. Without the proper car insurance and certainly without health insurance, this man now had hospital and doctor bills well into the six figures.
A third client came to me with about $110,000 in hospital bills because of his child's kidney transplant. His health insurance started paying for his child's medical procedures. Then he lost his full coverage without his or the hospital's knowledge. Since no one knew the insurance had changed, the doctors continued to treat the child and he even got the kidney transplant he needed. But the insurance company refused to pay many of the bills when they were turned in. The problem was my client had been working full-time but his hours were cut to part-time hours as a cost-saving measure for his company. He didn't lose his insurance completely, but it was cut back proportionately. He had coverage for doctor visits, trips to the emergency room and over-night stays in the hospital, but his insurance cap was lowered considerably. Any charges over that cap had to be paid for out of pocket. What was really ironic was the operation was done early in December so the child could be home by Christmas. If they had waited until January, the next year's coverage would have started with a new cap, and my client wouldn't have been in this situation.
I see clients like this all of the time. A lack of health insurance can be devastating when a person has a catastrophic situation. Hospital bills add up fast and can ruin a person's life.
health insurance will definitely keep you safe from extensive medical bills. You can simply get a few health insurance quotes to do a cost comparison.
