(01-19-2014, 04:49 PM)zonk Wrote: I,m wondering if the bankruptcy is not also due to mortgage default or/and credit cards debts
The other question is what those medical bills are for ... treating life threatening condition or some cosmetic surgery
Can someone please tell me, if someone required urgent medical attention and front-up hospital emergency dept in America, would the hospital treat the person free of charge or call security to throw her out in the street
Medicaid in the United States is a social healthcare program for families and individuals with low income and resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicaid
hospitals are required to treat everyone in an emergency situation, money or not. Not for profit hospitals also will discount their fees based on income or lack thereof.
A lot of people hit the ER rather than go to an urgent care or doctor, especially if they don't have medical coverage. Those that don't have children, it is harder to get state medical coverage and at one point, they would not pay for organ transplants and those that did not have children were taken off of the state medical insurance. That has changed somewhat now and they will cover organ transplants again.
There are also hospitals for those that are indigent to go to for medical care. In the state we live in, they have a great burn center and other emergency departments that are not just for the indigent but that is the majority of their patients. In early 2000, our child was going to be treated for the medical condition at the burn center but the doctors in that state (not our state) refused to release our child because the insurance paid so well). We had a medical airplane and medical personnel lined up to transport our child here and it got cancelled due to greedy doctors who refused to sign the release paperwork for the medical transport. This was before the bottom dropped out of things.
I have been told that if someone files bankruptcy now, they cannot file based on medical debt. I have not researched this to see if it is true but I know that it was before the government to stop bankruptcy filings due to medical debt.
what is sad, is that people that are here illegally get government assistance, free schooling, free medical, etc. If people try and cross the border and become ill from heat stroke, etc., the state (and the taxpayers) pay for their medical expenses, pays for them to have their babies, etc. and it is sad b/c a lot of our own citizens don't get that and they work, pay taxes, etc.
When the market bottomed out and unemployment went sky high, that is when people started filing for bankruptcy because they couldn't find jobs or if they could find jobs, it wasn't enough to pay their mortgage. we (meaning the US)still have not recovered from it.
Fortunately, our home is paid for but what used to be worth $350,000 or more is only worth 1/2 that now because the market is still bad here and has not recovered.
Hope this answers your question a little bit.