ionaskye

My daughter is 26 still in school and working two part time jobs,she has no health insurance.At the weekend she fell and broke her ankle and it is one big expensive mess getting her help.
my husband and I have lived in this country for over 20yrs we both hold good full time jobs and pay all of our taxes ,we both have great health insurance and my daughter was on our plan until she was 25yrs ,
Come on it is time to get something done, pass the health care reforms now.
I never thought that I would ever be in this position ,
My daughter is looked down on because she has no insurance. She has been working on getting insurance but it is very expensive to go private and she thought that she could put it off.

Rete

Sorry to hear of your daughter's troubles. Yes, private healthcare is expensive but so is the cost of not having healthcare as she is finding out. Be aware that both hospitals and doctors will trim the bill if you are able to give them a good portion of the bill in cash upfront. The hospital, at least, will allow you to make monthly payments but I don't believe a doctor will. Taking that into consideration, perhaps you can pay off her doctors' bills quickly, in cash, and let her make arrangements with the hospital for repayment.

I don't understand your comment about her being looked down on for not having insurance. My daughter had no insurance both in Las Vegas and in Mississippi when she was pregnant and she was never made to feel inferior because of the lack of insurance.

lj2

Hopefully this will be a lesson to others who don't prioritise health insurance...

That said - I had a $2650 deductible on mine and Arranged a payment plan (therefore debt passed to an agency - no credit dings or anything). I paid the first 6 monthly payments off in 2 months, and then figured I'd try to negotiate a reduced settlement. I got 16% off. Worth bearing in mind.

MsElui

there was a recent story on the web about a guy who was very badly beaten by a fellow student (now in custody). He only lived 5 minutes after arriving in the ER department but still clocked up almost 50,000 dollars of bill in those few minutes. His poor parents lost their son and still have to pay/negotiate etc a $50k bill.

anotherlimey

Welcome to the world of haves and have-nots.

Poppy girl

True story a friend of mine went to the local country vet when he broke his arm, result $20

BritishGuy36

Am I missing something.....how are parents of this guy liable for the debt? He may be their son but they didn't incur the debt or cause the injury.

SecretGarden

Although I don't have a link to post, I remember reading somewhere recently that the hospital has since rescinded the bill and apologized in writing to the parents for causing them anguish.

~SecretGarden

jumping doris

I assume his estate would be liable for the debt.

BritishGuy36

Sure....but what kind of student has an 'estate'. They'd get next to nothing I expect.

jumping doris

I remember reading an article here about families inheriting medical debt and some of the amounts were huge.

So, in this case, would his parents "inherit" the debt? I don't know, I just assumed they might because of the thing I read.

md95065

Actually is was "only" $29,000 according to this report

md95065

Possibly - but only if you know to ask. Otherwise you will be paying the full (ie inflated) rate not the discounted prices that the insurance companies have negotiated.

scrubbedexpat099

You can not inherit debt, you can be jointly liable but that is uncommon in medical situations.

If she is a student check with the Uni, most have group schemes.

And something I was told not long after I got here, do not give them your SSN, or a correct name or address.

Giantaxe

I've posted this before on here... my recently graduated, vastly underemployed daughter got appendicitis after coming off my insurance. She had investigated health insurance but came to the conclusion that the size of the annual deductible and the copayments required of the insurance she could afford would likely bankrupt her anyway in the event of a significant claim, so she chose to go without insurance. I didn't agree with her decision, but couldn't fault her financial logic. Anyway, she has $26k in bills that she has no hope in hell of paying, she's not eligible for Medicaid in CA as she has no children and is not pregnant, and absent the hospital writing off the bills she's likely going to be bankrupt. When it comes to healthcare access, this is one truly ****ed up country.