#medical debt

[liberalsarecool]

Such timing.

Goes to show the insurance companies don't need the money.

[googleearthlings]

The NYPD is offering a $10,000 reward for info on the guy who shot the UHC CEO. On the same day he was shot, I received a $45,000 bill from UHC. That reward money wouldn't even cover a quarter of it. I hope my man never gets caught. Fuck Brian, fuck UHC, and fuck the entire U.S. healthcare system.

[cazort]

Piece of financial advice, because I've seen too many people make this mistake: never pay off medical debt on a credit card unless you are 100% sure you will be able to pay the credit card balance off in full as soon as you get the first bill. Why? It is ALWAYS better to have medical debt than credit card debt. There is a long list of reasons why.

State and federal laws severely restrict medical debt in ways that credit card debt is not restricted.

Credit card debt can charge much higher interest rates, and in general it IS much higher in rate. Medical debt sometimes charges no interest, at least for a certain period of time. When it does charge interest, the rate is lower, and in some states it is capped as low as 5%, always at 20% or lower. Credit card interest rates are almost never below 15% and are sometimes MUCH higher than 20%.

Medical debt is less damaging to your credit history than credit card debt. And it is easier to eliminate in bankruptcy.

Medical debt also does not affect your spending limits on a credit card. If you use a credit card for monthly expenses, adding medical debt to it can bring you closer to your credit limit which might make you unable to use the card for expenses (even ones you could afford to pay off immediately.) This negatively affects your credit rating through increasing your credit utilization, it can reduce your potential to earn rewards, and it can reduce your spending power in an emergency.

Also, the penalties and fees for deliquency on medical debt are much milder and those for credit card debt are more severe. Again, laws are more restrictive on medical debt. You will have far fewer fees or penalties going delinquent on medical debt.

Also it is often easier to get medical debt forgiven or negotiated down, than credit card debt,

If you ever end up with medical debt, keep it as medical debt and keep paying it as medical debt. Go delinquent on your medical debt before switching it to a credit card. Once you put it on a credit card, you can't go back.

By keeping your medical debt as medical debt, you save money, protect your credit history, and increase your chances of having the debt forgiven, negotiated down, or eliminated through bankruptcy.

NEVER CONVERT MEDICAL DEBT TO CREDIT CARD DEBT.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Legendary U Washington bookseller Duane Wilkins is drowning in medical debt

Nearly every sf writer who's ever toured the west coast knows Duane - he's the encyclopedically knowledgeable sf buyer for the U Washington Bookseller, who has organized some of the best sf signings in Seattle history. He's a force of nature.

He's also broke. A two-week hospital stay left him drowning in medical debt - despite being insured! - and now he's being threatened by a collection agency.

Now, Duane is forced into participating in one of the most barbaric of contemporary American rituals, fundraising to cover his medical debt. He's raised $6k of the $10k he needs (I just pitched in $100).

If you can afford to help out someone who's done so much for our community, please kick Duane whatever you can spare.

[memesnotwelcome]

For information leading to the capture of the insurance CEO’s killer, the NYPD is offering a $10,000 reward; or less than half of the mean medical bills of American debtors.

[the-cimmerians]

Vice President Kamala Harris announced this week that the Biden administration is looking to lessen the burden medical debt has on people by purging it from their credit report. This means that even if people have piles of medical debt — one in five Americans say they do — it’s not going to affect their ability to get a mortgage or a car loan. So they will at least have a place to rest their head and a car they can drive to work every day while paying off their medical bills.

Via AP:

Harris said that would make it easier for them to obtain an auto loan or a home mortgage. Roughly one in five people report having medical debt. The vice president said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is beginning the rulemaking process to make the change. The agency said in a statement that including medical debt in credit scores is problematic because “mistakes and inaccuracies in medical billing are common.” “Access to health care should be a right and not a privilege,” Harris told reporters in call to preview the action. “These measures will improve the credit scores of millions of Americans so that they will better be able to invest in their future.”

It only seems fair that high medical bills for an emergency or serious illness shouldn’t affect one’s credit rating anyway. It’s not like we’re talking about someone irresponsibly dropping several grand at Versace and then never paying off the credit card bill. Fifty-seven percent of Americans could not afford a surprise $1000 emergency, so the inability to pay off massive amounts of medical debt is hardly a fair reflection of an inclination to default on normal payments — payments you can budget for — on something like a mortgage or auto loan. “Way to be irresponsible by getting cancer, lady! You should definitely be punished for that by not being able to find any place to live!” seems pretty harsh, no?

[politijohn]

Source

Good

[batboyblog]

Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #29

July 26-August 2 2024

President Biden announced his plan to reform the Supreme Court and make sure no President is above the law. The conservative majority on the court ruled that Trump has "absolute immunity" from any prosecution for "official acts" while he was President. In response President Biden is calling for a constitutional amendment to make it clear that Presidents aren't above the law and don't have immunity from prosecution for crimes committed while in office. In response to a wide ranging corruption scandal involving Justice Clarence Thomas, President Biden called on Congress to pass a legally binding code of ethics for the Supreme Court. The code would force Justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political actions, and force them to recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have conflicts of interest. President Biden also endorsed the idea of term limits for the Justices.

The Biden Administration sent out an email to everyone who has a federal student loan informing them of upcoming debt relief. The debt relief plan will bring the total number of a borrowers who've gotten relief from the Biden-Harris Administration to 30 million. The plan is due to be finalized this fall, and the Department of Education wanted to alert people early to allow them to be ready to quickly take advantage of it when it was in place and get relief as soon as possible.

President Biden announced that the federal government would step in and protect the pension of 600,000 Teamsters. Under the American Rescue Plan, passed by President Biden and the Democrats with no Republican votes, the government was empowered to bail out Union retirement funds which in recent years have faced devastating cut of up to 75% in some cases, leaving retired union workers in desperate situations. The Teamster union is just the latest in a number of such pension protections the President has done in office.

President Biden and Vice-President Harris oversaw the dramatic release of American hostages from Russia. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former Marine Paul Whelan held since 2018, Russian-American reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Alsu Kurmasheva convicted of criticizing the Russian Military, were all released from captivity and returned to the US at around midnight August 2nd. They were greeted on the tarmac by the President and Vice-President and their waiting families. The deal also secured the release of German medical worker Rico Krieger sentenced to death in Belarus, Russian-British opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza, and 11 Russians convicted of opposing the war against Ukraine or being involved in Alexei Navalny's anti-corruption organization. Early drafts of the hostage deal were meant to include Navalny before his death in Russian custody early this year.

A new Biden Administration rule banning discrimination against LGBT students takes effect, but faces major Republican resistance. The new rule declares that Title IX protects Queer students from discrimination in public schools and any college that takes federal funds. The new rule also expands protections for victims of sexual misconduct and pregnant or parenting students. However Republican resistance means the rule can't take effect nation wide. Lawsuits from Republican controlled states, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, means the new protections won't come into effect those states till the case is ruled on likely in a Supreme Court ruling. The Biden administration crafted these Title IX rules to reflect the Supreme Court's 2020 Bostock case.

The Biden administration awarded $2 billion to black and minority farmers who were the victims of historic discrimination. Historically black farmers have been denied important loans from the USDA, or given smaller amounts than white farmers. This massive investment will grant 23,000 minority farmers between $10,000 and $500,000 each and a further 20,000 people who wanted to start farms by were improperly denied the loans they needed between $3,500-$6,000 to get started. Most payments went to farmers in Mississippi and Alabama.

The Biden Administration took an important step to stop the criminalization of poverty by changing child safety guidelines so that poverty alone isn't grounds for taking a child into foster care. Studies show that children able to stay with parents or other family have much better outcomes then those separated. Many states have already removed poverty from their guidelines when it comes to removing children from the home, and the HHS guidelines push the remaining states to do the same.

Vice-President Harris announced the Biden Administration's agreement to a plan by North Carolina to forgive the state's medical debt. The plan by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper would forgive the medical debt of 2 million people in the state. North Carolina has the 3rd highest rate of medical debt in the nation. Vice-President Harris applauded the plan, pointing out that the Biden Administration has forgiven $650 million dollars worth of medical debt so far with plans to forgive up to $7 billion by 2026. The Vice-President unveiled plans to exclude medical debt from credit scores and issued a call for states and local governments to forgive debt, like North Carolina is, last month.

The Department of Transportation put forward a new rule to bank junk fees for family air travel. The new rule forces airlines to seat parents next to their children, with no extra cost. Currently parents are forced to pay extra to assure they are seated next to their children, no matter what age, if they don't they run the risk of being separated on a long flight. Airlines would be required to seat children age 13 and under with their parent or accompanying adult at no extra charge.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it is giving $3.5 billion to combat homelessness. This represents the single largest one year investment in fighting homelessness in HUD's history. The money will be distributed by grants to local organizations and programs. HUD has a special focus on survivors of domestic violence, youth homeless, and people experiencing the unique challenges of homelessness in rural areas.

The Treasury Department announced that Pennsylvania and New Mexico would be joining the IRS' direct file program for 2025. The program was tested as a pilot in a number of states in 2024, saving 140,000 tax payers $5.6 million in filing charges and getting tax returns of $90 million. The program, paid for by President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, will be available to all 50 states, but Republicans strong object. Pennsylvania and New Mexico join Oregon and New Jersey in being new states to join.

Bonus: President Biden with the families of the released hostages calling their loved ones on the plane out of Russia

[republikkkanorcs]

[rejectingrepublicans]

[sophiaslittleblog]

Hay guys. I’m $6,500 in medical/personal debt. I had surgery this past September to remove fibroids from my uterus and my insurance refused to cover multiple things. So I changed the uncovered items to my credit card. Any help will go towards my medical/personal debt. Funds can also be sent to $SophiaChes, PayPal- SophiaChester@hotmail.com and my venmo Sophia-Chester-1. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[liberalsarecool]

What radicalized you?

Cancer treatment will steal life savings and inflict medical bankruptcies.

The out-of-pocket expenses are criminal.

You will never see a Congress person with their government health care get cancer and go bankrupt.

[gwydionmisha]

Democrats did this.

[thebisexualmandalorian]

If y'all could signal boost this, I would really appreciate it.

[wildhannimal]

Before you pay that not-covered hospital bill:

I want to take a min to spread awareness for the No Surprises Act after noticing a reddit post earlier.

This protection for patients just popped up in the past couple years, and the one major downside is that it's up to the patients to speak up to make use of it, but not everyone knows what it is.

"If you have private health insurance, these new protections ban the most common types of surprise bills. If you’re uninsured or you decide not to use your health insurance for a service, under these protections, you can often get a good faith estimate of the cost of your care up front, before your visit."

Consumer fact sheet

Typically, health insurance companies will help pay for bills from "in-network" providers, AKA their VIP inner circle gang turf. They won't help pay if you get medical care from another gang's henchmen (out of network).

This means that sometimes, a person would go to the hospital, which they knew had been covered by their insurance before, so they expect it's going to be relatively affordable. But they didn't know that multiple medical "gangs" were working in the same hospital. Their anesthesiologist, for example, was from a different gang. That specialist was out of network even though the surgeon and nurses were all in network.

Boom. Big bill for thousands of dollars and their insurance refuses to help pay it.

But now we have this law! The No Surprises Act means that insurance companies need to cover "surprise" expenses (under certain conditions).

If you don't have health insurance, hospitals and clinics need to give you an accurate quote before you get services, then foot the bill if they were too far off the mark.

The Fact Sheet section (UPDATE: this consumer toolkit link is better) of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services have some wonderful user-friendly resources for you about health insurance and how this act works.

Keep in mind that Medicare and government-run programs always have weird rules for everything, so you might have different (yet similar) protections through those programs.

If you have a medical bill that wasn't covered by insurance and you think it might count as a surprise bill, please check out your rights and consider fighting it instead of letting it become a stressful expense or debt you can't repay.

Go here to start figuring things out for your situation:

Health insurance companies have way, waaaaay too much power over our lives. We need every drop of protection we can get - but it only counts as much as we can understand and use those protections!

[odinsblog]

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs plans to cancel $2 billion in medical debt for up to 1 million residents. This is the biggest medical debt cancellation proposal in the country. The Governor plans to use $30 million in federal funds to buy and cancel the debt with RIP Medical Debt.

At least two other states — Connecticut and New Jersey — have moved to erase medical debt owed by their residents, in addition to a growing number of municipal and county governments across the nation.

(continue reading)