Do (can??) I add a medical bill after filing?

[nosrus77]

Actual date expense occured was 5/10, but did not get bill until after the date I filed. Bill is for $1,092 - should have been covered by my insurance, but so far they are not paying.

I switched jobs 6/1. Hospital did not bill until 6/2, but services provided on 5/10. This SHOULD be paid. Anyway, I want the hospital to get their money, but I don't exactly have and extra grand laying around either.

Any ideas? The chapter 7 was filed 6/11 and it is not on my list of creditors, as I didn't have the bill in hand yet.

[BassBoy]

We had a similar situation arise. We had a medical bill show up 18 after we filed, but the services were rendered about 2 months before we filed. However, this was not added to our creditors list, but our case was discharged long before we ever got this bill.

Now, my understanding is that any debt incurred before the date you filed is included with your debts, but if you are an asset case, like we were, you'll have to pay this debt because the creditor would not have had the right to file a Proof of Claim and possibly receive some money from the assets.

That said, you may want to amend your petition to include this creditor/debt, but the amount you should list would be unknown. The worst case scenario is that you end up re-paying the balance, that is, if the insurance company pays for part of the bill.

If you do have to re-pay this debt, you can make payment arrangements with the hospital. Also, if you look on the back of the bill, sometimes there will be information about financial asssistance, meaning sometimes the hospital will discount the amount owed based on your income. This is called a sliding pay scale. For example, we were able to get a 75% reduction with one hospital. If you owe the entire bill, $250 is a heck of a lot easier to manage than $1000 is.

[nosrus77]

True enough - thanks for the post!! We are a no-asset case, for whatever that's worth.

[BassBoy]

True enough - thanks for the post!! We are a no-asset case, for whatever that's worth.

Being a No Asset case makes this much more simple. The debt was incurred before your filing date, and if I remember correctly (because I am old law and I do not know if this may have been changed with the new law), ALL debts are discharged. This is what our attorney's office told us, but that was before they realized/remembered we were an asset case, so we were responsible for the debt (a measly $100.00). Anyways, being that there will no money for your creditors, the debt should be discharged. If you hired an attorney, I would check with him/her as to whether or not you should/need to amend your petition.

[HHM]

The bill is for a large enough amount that you should probably spend the $22 (or whatever it is) to amend your list of creditors and add that bill into your BK. Doing so will remove any doubt as to the status of that debt.

But, since you are a no asset case, you don't "need" to add that creditor.