New Medical Bills

[boye72]

We filed for chapter 13 7 months ago. Two months ago, my daughter had some medical problems resulting a 3 day stay in a special children's hospital. My insurance covered most, but we are left with $8000 left in medical bills. I have tried for financial aid and payments, but combined from the emergency room and children's hospital, etc., are wanting over $500 a month payments. Is it possible to add this to bankruptcy after it has been done, or am I just out of luck?

Thanks.

[HHM]

What is your current chapter 13 payment?

[boye72]

The payment is $697 monthly.

[HHM]

Hmmm, this is a tough one. Generally, you cannot add post petition debts to your chapter 13. The real question is whether you can do a plan modification and reduce your chapter 13 payment.

You have a compelling case (daughter sick, etc) for why you had to incur the expense, but I am not sure where the law will come down. If you have an attorney, you need to ask him 2 questions.

1. Can you open up the plan to add this creditor (I suspect the answer is no).
2. If no, you need to ask if you can modify the plan, based on the fact that you have significant increase in expenses.

[lrprn]

We had the same thing happen 12 DAYS after we filed - I had an emergency hospitalization for three days and we ended up with a $3000 hospital bill to pay out of pocket after insurance.

Since the expenses occurred after filing, you won't be able to add the hospital and physician bills to your plan. However, there are two options besides what HHM offered -

1. Ask your lawyer to speak to your trustee about skipping 2-3 payments to put that money towards the hospital bill.

2. Check with the hospital's financial dept directly to see if they have a relationship with a specialized medical bill lender who will set up a payment plan for the $8K (or less if you are able to put a few Ch 13 payments toward the debt). Our trustee approved this option for us and the company set up a monthly payment we could manage without stopping our Ch 13 payment. We paid the bill off completely in 18 months.

When the change in your financial status is not long-lasting and permanent, amending your plan should be the last thing you attempt.

As a nurse, I have one other approach to recommend. Ask the hospital and physician billing departments for completely itemized bills for your daughter's hospital stay. Look for errors on the bill - double-charging, charges for items or medications she did not receive, etc. For expert help analyzing the bill, contact the Medical Billing Advocates of America at http://www.billadvocates.com/services/individual.html . This is a legitimate, reliable organization (there are others out there who are not) that helps consumers ensure that no one pays a dime more than they truly owe for medical care. I have seen this organization save thousands on a hospital bill by removing charges that are so exorbitant the hospital cannot justify them plus cut through the billing "fog" to explain what charges actually are for and if they are legit. Well worth a phone call to chat with them!

[arkienurse]

As a nurse, I have one other approach to recommend. Ask the hospital and physician billing departments for completely itemized bills for your daughter's hospital stay. Look for errors on the bill - double-charging, charges for items or medications she did not receive, etc.

As a nurse, I second this idea. It would really surprise you the mistakes that can be made. Here is an example from years ago where I work. When the anesthesia providers are waking up the patient, they often use a stimulator gadget to see if the muscles are coming out of paralysis. This was charted on their chart as "tetany" Someone in the billing department didn't understand what exactly this was, and was charging every patient for a tetanus shot that they had not received!!

[Flamingo]

Bills incurred after filing are your own responsibility. I think most of us who file get hit with soimething after filing; for us it was the IRS and not having enough deducted during the year we filed. We got hit hard by state and federal taxes the year after filing. Or it's a major car repair bill or house repair bill. After contacting our attorney, we were advised to contact the IRS and work out a payment plan we could afford with our Chapter 13. In those circumstances, and as in yours, the only option is to try to work out a payment plan you can afford with the creditor. If they won't budge, the other options provided by previous posters are next; Contact your attorney to see if you can skip one or two plan payments (he/she would get permission from the trustee for this - we were able to skip one when our hot water heater blew - $600 bill) or see if your plan can be modified. Unless the bill and/or payments are extremely large, that probably is not an option.

What you have experienced is a reason for the failing of many Chapter 13 plans. The years following filing can be difficult to get through and you have to start some sort of savings plan to save money for unexpected things occuring. Modifications are only done if there are very large fluctuations in income and/or expenses during your Plan.

One other suggestion I have if your back is against the wall with this one - do you have any familiy or friends who can help you out with part or all of this that you can pay back? My sister helped me out with a dental bill during the third year of our BK when I had to have an emergency root canal and crown done over a two month period. My portion of the bill after insurance was $600. She put it on her Mastercard for me and I paid her back over several months. Family/friends can help at bad times when needed if you are really stuck - it's just an option you may want to look into.