Even Insured Can Face Crushing Medical Debt, Study Finds

[HeiressofBickworth]

2. I've heard of this for years

I used to be a bankruptcy paralegal (early in my paralegal career). I worked for a closed-panel law firm (only represented certain unions at low rates as part of their benefits) All of my clients were members of unions so one would suppose they had good health care benefits. But there they were, buried in medical debt and looking for help from the bankruptcy laws. And that isn't really an easy choice. There are laws that protect certain assets (car for work, household goods not over a certain dollar amount) and filing a homestead only protected a small amount of equity in a home. Everything else was up for sale to satisfy creditors. I even had one client who had to give up his dog because it was used for breeding and selling pups which was an asset not protected by any of the existing laws. And this was in the 1970's!!!!!! Nothing seems to have changed, despite the Affordable Care Act.