Many patients develop a sort of tunnel vision after a diagnosis with cancer. The only thing that matters is achieving remission or having a scan done that shows they are cancer-free. They may suffer through painful treatments and months of chemotherapy to achieve remission.
For many people, the victory lap after beating cancer gets cut short when financial reality comes calling. The same facilities that just helped you fight a deadly disease could soon start applying intense pressure because they want their money for those treatments.
While you may not have had a job in more than a year because of how sick you been, they want payment now. They might call you repeatedly or even threaten you with a lawsuit. What does that mean for you?
Many cancer survivors eventually turn to bankruptcy
Modern insurance companies don’t cover everything that they should when it comes to cancer. Often, they won’t pay for the newest treatment available. Even if they do, they may pass on 30% of those expenses in co-insurance. Those costs quickly add up to an insurmountable amount of medical debt.
Overall, someone who has had cancer is 2.65 times as likely as someone who has never had cancer to file for bankruptcy. More than two-fifths of cancer patients completely use their life savings while trying to pay for their treatment in just the first two years after their diagnosis.
If cancer survivors don’t take action to protect themselves financially, they could soon face the stress of a debt collection lawsuit and maybe even a lien against their house.
Bankruptcy is a solution for cancer-related debt
The hospital that treated you doesn’t care that the stress they cause through their collection activity could hurt your health. They also won’t care about the practical consequences of getting a lien against your house or a judgment awarding them a garnishment of your future income.
Especially if a medical creditor has served you with lawsuit paperwork, filing for bankruptcy may be a smart decision. It allows you to temporarily halt pending lawsuits and potentially discharge unsecured debt, like your medical bills. Exploring personal bankruptcy can help cancer survivors struggling with overwhelming medical debt really move on with their lives.