The better option?

[rachelmarie]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

In 1999, I was crossing an intersection on foot and a driver ran a red light. He hit me, and the damage to my body was bad. Months in the hospital, comatose for six weeks, just terrible. His insurance covered $8k total in medical bills, the amount of his coverage. Just $8k. I had no insurance of my own. The remaining $800k in medical bills were charged against me directly. The interest is accruing at more per month than my disability. That's right, as a result of this, I have been disabled since 2000. I was 19 at the time.

Needless to say, when your resume included two retail jobs, followed by a four years of recuperating just to live without being in surgery often, about the only jobs available to someone with no college education and no resume is fast food and retail, both jobs I am unable to do. So please don't attack me for being in disability. My place for my life didn't include being month to month existing. I wanted to be a veterinarian.

I am in school now, but not to be a vet. I can't handle running around for hours at a time, but I think I could handle some other types of work, and having some college might help make up for the real-world working experience I don't have.

Back to the topic at hand.

There is no way I will ever be able to pay off this medical debt. It's well over a $1,000,000 by now. And adding to this, my ID was stolen at some point when I was sick, so there are a bunch of credit cards and other things n my report that aren't mine. Someone even tried to buy a house in my name last year. Good luck with that, Thief.

I'm not planning to run out and get credit cards. I don't want them. I couldn't afford to pay hem. But I also don't like my credit rating being trashed with debt that isn't mine (there is not a fraud alert on it), and with medical bills I can never afford to pay that I only had because some jackass was on a cell phone.

My only asset is a computer I bought used. I have my clothes, some furniture, and a tv (eve though I don't have cable or anything). I have a sewing machine. I have a painting on my wall by some no-name I picked up for $20 or so ten years ago. I don't have a lot of other things. My disability is $1400/mo. My rent is $850.

Would it be better for my credit on the short term to file bankruptcy, or leaving it as it is? What would be better in the long term?

I am going to get through school and get a job I can do. I would like to be able to buy a house in the next five years, and maybe a car. I just don't know if bankruptcy would make it nearly impossible to do these things for a decade or if it would help me.

[bigun]

If no one has sued you over the medical debt, the SOL may well have run so Bk may not be necessary. Speak with legal aid or see if you can get a consultation with a consumer attorney about the SOL for medical debt in Ca.
Time to get proactive on the ID theft. File a police report and then follow these recommendations from the FTC.

[url=http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/]Deter. Detect. Defend. Avoid ID Theft[/url]

It may take some effort but a bk filing may not be necessary.