Below Median Income - But Too Few Expenses!!!

[raeka]

I am BELOW the median income, but I have too few expenses. I have become frugal after defaulting on credit cards two years ago after medical problem. In all honesty, I have saved money by being frugal and not paying high interest credit cards. I have moved around a bit in past few years, and I have been in current state for one year. My disposable income comes to about 6-800 a month depending on how it is calculated (I dont understand the difference between the 22 forms and the schedules i and j)

Can I increase my expenses by starting up treatment for medical condition? If I establish 3 months of medical bills, will this be enough?

How else can I increase my expenses? I dont want to wait a full 6 months, just 4 more months.

I am using cell phone from a family member. If I get my own prepaid phone, that is deductible?

I also have a lot of cash on hand - about 10 grand. I have nothing else, no car, no house, nothing - if I lost my job, this is all I have. Lawyers I have consulted with said I can exempt about 8500 of it and the rest will go to lawyer and filing fees.

[momofthree]

If you post your income & expenses, that may help us point you in the right direction.

[raeka]

I have two kinds of income - salary and variable business income - which makes my 6 month average variable depending on when I file.

Depending on when I decide to file, my 6 month income could be $2900 to as high as $3800 (I just need to wait it out another 4 months to get the minimum). So, if I wait it out a few more months, 22 income would be 2900 GROSS. J income would be 3400. GROSS.

Taxes: 600 (wage only)
Food: 350-450
Rent: 650
No utilities or phone: included in rent
Medical (existing): 170
CVS Type Things: 100
Personal Business (stamps, mailing): 35
Business Expenses (business related): 75
Transportation: 180
Pet Supplies (??): 50
Eating out/Visiting Friends/Family: 150
Communication (no cell): 40

Verifiable Expenses: 2400 (low balling it)

Plus another 230 in federal student loans payments (always paid, always current): 2630

Plus paying back taxes to IRS on 12 month plan: 2830

I need to establish additional medical expenses into the expenses because I DO HAVE A CHRONIC MEDICAL CONDITION, that I have not been getting treatment for because I simply could not afford it until NOW. If I had to get hospitalized again - the thought of going into additional medical debt because I am on a ch 13 plan makes me all kinds of angry. The thought of forgoing consistent treatment when I could be putting money into my health all along - makes me very upset.

My question is if I can establish 3 months of large medical bills (my medical condition is very well documented, it would be insane to any real medical professional to not have me monitored), will they see this as abuse or fraud or whatever, since I just started going to the doctor again after a year of not going? Can I calculate the medical bills into the means test?

Depending on the doctor and insurance, I can end up paying 500 to 1,000 extra a month in medical bills if I got proper treatment. If I tack on a pre-paid cell phone, I can put in another 80 for communication.

I think what confuses me is the difference between schedule j and the means test.

[raeka]

My point is that my disposable income should go to treating a serious medical condition first, NOT creditors.

[pcn]

If you have 10k saved, and haven't been treating your serious medical condition, what makes it so serious now?

[music12]

do you have medical insurance? if not, those run 400-500 per month easily. if you do have medical insurance, then i don't know why the treatment would cost so much - usually there is a deductible limit at some point.

that said, never mind the bk, go treat your condition. you don't want to wake up in a year just to find out it got so much worse that it's no longer treatable. your health comes first.

[StartingOver08]

What kind of debt are you looking to discharge in BK? Is the debt all old debt?

I agree with the others, take care of your medical needs first. It may present a problem if you file BK before you take care of your medical situation - you may be filing too early.

[raeka]

as far as pcn's comment -

most of the income is recent, but not consistent. It came in one wave. Prior to that (extremely recently), my monthly gross income was a little under 2,000. So, yeah, with the kind of medical condition I have, my costs run about 1,000 - 1,250 to treat, meaning unless I got extra income, I couldn't treat it. I can't start treatment, run out of money, go off treatment, get back on treatment, run out of money, go off treatment, and spend 200 a month on food and not ever leave my apartment, because I have to work and pay for transportation to get to work.

It's actually far more dangerous to do that. And there is a pre-exsiting condition clause with my health insurance - I only recently got health insurance and only qualify for the high-risk one due to my medical history. That means that even when the pre-exiting condition clause runs out in several more months, I am still paying high out of pocket expenses. Therefore, I am looking at minimum $5 or 600 a month (when insurance covers it), and $1,250 before then. Even with the small savings per month, I can't pay for my treatment.

[mtbc]

Our medical bills have been tough enough to deal with even with good insurance. Just got another $500-ish billed to us in the mail this week. Mind you, the amounts our insurer seems to be paying on our behalf are staggering given that the actual treatment we're getting isn't very major. You certainly have my sympathy. Medical bills were the most common type of thing we listed on Schedule F.