County in Kansas is jailing people over unpaid medical debt

[MiniMe]

This is one of the most disgusting things I have seen.

Tres and Heather Biggs' son Lane was diagnosed with leukemia when he was five years old. At the same time, Heather suffered seizures from Lyme disease.


"We had so many — multiple health issues in our family at the same time, it put us in a bracket that made insurance unattainable," Heather Biggs said. "It would have made no sense. We would have had to have not eaten, not had a home."

a woman sitting in a chair talking on a cell phone: Heather Biggs of Coffeyville, Kansas.
© Provided by CBS News Heather Biggs of Coffeyville, Kansas.
Tres Biggs was working two jobs but they fell behind on their medical bills, then the unthinkable happened.

"You wouldn't think you'd go to jail over medical bills," Tres Biggs said.


Tres Biggs went to jail for failing to appear in court for unpaid medical bills. He described it as "scary."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/county-in-kansas-is-jailing-people-over-unpaid-medical-debt/ar-BBZP8ow?ocid=ob-fb-enus-280&fbclid=IwAR0lyh6dSRxsyVibRiJVl7rjFVcdHMQlp1OiJPOiQSLssj_qxZ3rzokM4-M

oops, forgot the link

[MontanaMama]

1. Because going to jail

helps these folks pay their debt...

[Iliyah]

9. Shouldn't they have free medical care if they get sick ? . .

in jail . .

[Bev54]

18. Because going to jail

will stop them from voting for dems so they can have health care.

[LonePirate]

2. How does a public option help here? (Hint: It does nothing to solve/prevent this problem.)

[Hestia]

13. It would help tremendously. I think we are the only country that has medical bankruptcy.

In fact, 2/3rd of all bankruptcy's are due to medical bills.

Is that better?

I do wish Elizabeth, Bernie, et al would explain it better so people won't be horrified at their health insurance corporation nation state losing money. WHO Are These People?

We just got to get rid of all these loopholes - on everything - which is how these nation states make billions each year - we just hand it over to them, then bitch that we would have to pay less and be healthier (?).

Anyway, we as citizens of this country pay for insurance out of our paychecks, co-pays up and down the chain of treatment, now hospitals and doctors medical groups are charging out of network charges, putting people on the hook for thousands of dollars that should be covered.

Erase all these extraneous charges, make doctors gov't employees as France does (no tuition to pay back, it's paid for through taxes),
have your very own medical card which has ALL doctor visits lab results - everything - so if you go to another doctor, they can just pull up your chart and understand what's been going on, instead of making people remember or pay for their chart and hopefully not lose it in a flood or fire or bankruptcy.

Canada, Germany and France have private insurance for the parts their individual NIH's do not cover.

It is extremely do-able, we just need someone to come up with oh, say, a Netflix documentary to explain it all. A lot of people learn visually instead of through reading. Bring everyone up to par and go from there.

[LonePirate]

17. I'm not sure you understand what a public option is.

Exorbitantly priced insurance, be it sold by private insurers or the federal government, does nothing to prevent the high cost of medical expenses in this country.

[Ohiogal]

3. Compassion, Trump style

[leftieNanner]

4. Where is Charles Dickens when you need him?

[Aristus]

5. I wonder if deep-red Kansans are going to look upon the Affordable Care Act with a little more

respect now...

[Wellstone ruled]

6. Oh that has to make the Koch family just simle.

So that person looses their Income source,all be meager at best,and their employment chances when exiting Prison is slime to none.

[Mike 03]

7. I thought that in the United States you don't get put in prison for having

debt.

This is a disgrace.

Back in the time of Charles Dickens they did this.

[redstatebluegirl]

8. "Are there no prisons, are there no workhouses".

The GOP is Scrooge every single one of them. They would absolutely enjoy watching people die in a prison because they are poor.

[Disaffected]

10. Err,

looks like she went to jail for her failure to appear in court (as it states in the OP, not simply because she had unpaid debts).

Still crappy but not the same....

[treestar]

19. Yes. Though it is rather absurd to put people in jail for not appearing

for a civil case. Isn't the penalty just the default judgment? But this is Kansas.

I recall a case where not attending the hearing on property division in a divorce resulted in a warrant for arrest in Texas. Child support I could see, but property division should be a civil matter between two adults.

[Hoyt]

11. It's a stupid process, but if all I had to do was appear every 6 months and say, 'I can't pay,"

I'd appear until the law or process is changed.

In meantime, vote Blue in 2020. Only 22% in that county went for Clinton in 2016.

[MiniMe]

12. I agree, but the guy is working 2 jobs

And who knows how long he has to be available for court. This is to punish and humiliate the poor

[Bengus81]

14. The same town that bent over backward to get an Amazon warehouse years ago........

And then Amazon blew town several years later to move up toward KC Kansas. That was a huge blown to a very small town. So JAIL people for being unable to pay and probably scared to DEATH to appear in Court yet Bezos and Amazon make out like BANDITS on Trumps huge tax cuts for the rich.

[BigDemVoter]

15. This just defies belief.

How un-fucking-believable. Where have we gone as a country to allow this kind of SHIT?

I don't even have the heart to read any further. And Pussy-Grabber wants to remove any last barriers to chopping off coverage for pre-existing conditions. . . . I loathe Pussy-Grabber supporters, but even I don't want to see them without medical coverage-- Ok, ok-- maybe a couple of months with no coverage? No, seriously, basic medical coverage (hospital, MD, medication, medical treatment) shouldn't depend on one's financial means.

[blm]

16. Ugh