According to a CNN Money report, millions of young Americans are forgoing health decisions due to rising health care costs. Many opt to skip filling prescriptions, avoid expensive recommended tests, and avoid doctor visits because of the costs associated with the acts. The numbers are staggering. Forty-one percent of young adults between the age of [...]

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A lawsuit filed by the Minnesota Attorney General alleges that Accretive Health Inc., a major medical debt collection company, often pressures patients to pay medical bills before receiving actual treatment, according to a disturbing report in the Chicago Sun-Times. The lawsuit against the debt collector makes several startling allegations, but observers who follow the industry [...]

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Medical debt has risen to become a large reason why people seek bankruptcy protection. According to CredAbility, a non–profit credit counseling company, approximately 20 percent of people mentioned medical debt as a reason why they were looking for financial counseling in 2011. That number is up 13 percent from the previous two years. A recent [...]

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Terminal illnesses suffered by elderly patients can pose a number of physical, emotional, and psychological challenges for both the patients and their families. And all this pain doesn’t come cheap. Hospice care for elderly patients can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and many families are understandably nervous about racking up huge medical debts for [...]

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American families may breathe a sigh of relief after they pay their medical bills, but a recent report from Fox News suggests that paying a medical bill does not necessarily remove it from one’s credit report. When collection agencies assume the responsibility of collecting a medical debt, they apparently sometimes allow evidence of a collection [...]

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In an ironic twist, the plaintiff behind one of the pending court challenges to the Affordable Care Act had to file for personal bankruptcy to pay off numerous debts, including unpaid medical bills. A recent article in Forbes discusses this woman’s search for medical bill relief, and the irony of her medical debt problems juxtaposed [...]

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We post on this blog a lot about how individuals can file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy as a means of relieving their medical debts. But a story recently reported by the Huffington Post illustrates how the elimination of obligations in Chapter 7 bankruptcy can be a two-way street. According to the Post, seven families whose [...]

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The details of medical bills, which are often in fine print, may frustrate the average health care consumer, but they often provide important information about the payment process and the nature of the medical bills themselves. And, in addition to paying attention to the fine print, consumers should also avoid ignoring medical bills altogether. Surprisingly, [...]

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Since the start of Occupy Wall Street, the world has become familiar with the phrase “the 99 percent,” and the fact that in the United States, it refers to the 99 percent of the population, which does not hold the bulk of the country’s wealth (the once percent takes care of that). A recent article [...]

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The recession that the country seems to finally be escaping left millions of Americans with mounting levels of medical debt, and less access to insurance needed to afford adequate care, according to a recent article in the Sacramento Bee. This trend is highlighted in a recent study by UCLA researchers, who determined that more than [...]

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