Hi,
My Father and Brother are retired doctors. I was a bank vice
president in charge of a recovery department, a bankruptcy department,
a collection agency area (where we sent accounts to collection
agencies to be collected after we gave up on them), a deceased
accounts department and a customer corrrespondence department (you
would think my spelling would be better). We charged off $21 million
per month in bad debt. Of course we made quite a bit more.
My Grandmother went into a "home" after she was deamed insolvent by
the state of Iowa and her bill was picked up by medicaid. My parents
have long term health insurance to pay for thier care should either or
both have to go to a facility. We all have regular coverage. I am
100% disabled now, on social security disability at 100% and am on
Medicare. We are all doing fine, thankyou.
Medicaid is for very poor people who have little or no assets. Don't
think of having him apply for it if he rents and owns a car and a
small boat. He may not get it if he has ANY capital items (items that
have a title). Or if he has savings or checking assets, life
insurance assets, retirement assets, 401k assets, or cash exceeding
the state maximum. (sorry I can't tell you that amount, but then I
don't expect you to choose my answer as the one that you pay either -
I'm just having a nice evening answering questions that I feel I know
the answers to).
My Grandmother's nursing home (and state medicade officials)accepted
the fact that she had nothing because my parents planned "years in
advance" for this by showing on paper where my father bought back her
house and paid her payments each month for the house. This really
just amounted to an "allowance" paid over years and years with the pay
off taking place just before she got too sick to stay at home,
wherein, the agreement read, the home and other assets were to be
titled in my parents name. This "agreement" was signed by both
parties with the witness being a very close friend - not noterized,
but then again who needs a notary among family. The proof? A hand
written list of cash paid per week over years and years. The reason?
We knew she was in poor health and couldn't afford to keep up the
asset without the help.
Sounds reasonable.
Now on the other hand, lets say he is really that poor to begin with.
No worries then. He should check into the nearest county hospital and
say he has nothing, and wait, and wait, and wait. They have to give
him medical assistance and will even help him apply for medicaid while
there.
Should he file bankruptcy - no way. Bankruptcy is something he can
only file once under chapter 7 for years, and though he could file
chapter 13 every month he wouldn't qualify for a 13 since it is for
people with regular incomes. So he's left with only one shot at
getting a chapter 7 right. If he accepts the responsibility of his
own doctor/hospital bills and later can't pay them, these would be
good examples of debts that could be discharged under a chapter 7
bankruptcy plan. In other words, he could strategically 'plan' his
going into bankruptcy by accumulating as much "debt" as he could prior
to filing. One of those debts could be the bills for his health
problems. Other debts he may incur between now and the time he files
bankruptcy would be any credit cards he may open and use in an attempt
to stay alive and solvent with all of his creditors. (I used several
credit cards to help pay my house payments until my social security
kicked in.) As long as he has a doctor saying, "we can help you get
back to work" he can justify taking large cash advances in
anticipation of returning to work and beginning to pay it all back.
Of course this is if he has good enough credit to get those cards. I
had several credit card companies a day asking to give me cards. I
simply told the truth, listed my income as the prior years income,
listed the year & the amount, listed my current occupation as
disabled/retired and sent them in. A dozen companies sent cards, some
with $20,000 lines. Many people who think they have "bad" credit,
don't. You never know till you try.
As to you taking responsibility for your relitives medical bills - don't.
If you want to go bankrupt yourself, this is a good way to do it. And
worst of all, if you do eventually have to go bankrupt due to his
bills, he will still remain liable for the debt. It's much better for
him to accept responsibility as a non insurred patient pay, wait it
out, accumulate as much med debt as possible then get rid of it in
bankruptcy later.
A word about collections: Collections is regulated. The fair debt
collections practices act (FDCPA) says much about what can and can't
be done in collections. Suffice to say, the saying you cant get blood
from a stone is true. Everything is negotiable. The act regulates
how and how often a debtor can be contacted by a debt collector. Bill
collectors shouldn't be feared, but in my estimation, they should be
avoided. Other than the obvious non-published phone number, and Post
office box address, there are
many other ways to avoid collectors that are more persistant than they
should be. Of course, you can always write them and tell them you
want no more calls at home and at work. That is a right afforded you
by the FDCPA. But that usually forces their next move - look for
assets to attach or wages to garnish. The easiest way to handle
unwanted bill collectors is to avoid them. Like I said, just ask.
So, guess that's my advice. Have him accept responsibility for the
med bills, have him pay them if he can, have him get additional credit
for more money to hold him over while he's out of work - if he can,
and when all is said and done, and he has used up all the credit,
money and luck he has, bankrupt him.
Please don't pay me for this answer. I enjoy doing this for fun.
Also, of course, a disclaimer: You should seek legal advice from a
lawyer, medical advice from a doctor, tax advice from a CPA. I am
none of the above, but wish you well. |
