When filing for bankruptcy, debtors are required to list all their debts, including medical debts. But filing bankruptcy on medical debt does not impact your ability to receive treatment in the future. Bankruptcy offers all debtors a fresh start, including debtors with medical debt.
Medical debt is actually one of the biggest causes of bankruptcy in the country. Medical debt is such a huge problem that many Americans are afraid that if they file bankruptcy a hospital or doctor that was included in the bankruptcy may refuse to treat them in an emergency situation. No hospital can refuse emergency treatment to any patient regardless of their income, credit or bankruptcy status: that is the law. And hospitals are not checking with the bankruptcy court when you come through their emergency room, so you have nothing to fear in that regard.
Many debtors considering bankruptcy are also afraid that if they include their personal physician in their bankruptcy case they won’t be able to return to that doctor. This is highly unlikely. With the rising costs of medical care, filing bankruptcy because of medical debt has become more and more common. The medical community is not in the habit of denying treatment to patients even if they discharged a very large medical bill in bankruptcy.
By Doug Beaton