New York State
Three years ago my husband, a diabetic, who already had heart abnormalities, was diagnosed with cancer. Following a very long and very expensive course of treatment we were left with devastating medical bills. I started to send small payments to try to at least appease the hospital’s collections department. Some time later, due to side effects of Chemotherapy, my husband’s heart problems worsened and he again underwent treatments that were very expensive. My husband would never get well enough to return to work, so he was put on permanent disability. This reduced our income tremendously. Although we were insured, at first privately and then through Medicare, between the medications, the staggeringly expensive chemotherapy treatments, and five surgeries, which included a colostomy and two heart surgeries, the co-pays overwhelmed us. In trying to keep up with paying for medications and whoever had to be paid immediately, I was unable to continue making even small payments to the hospital. Although things have somewhat calmed down, I am still paying for the twelve different medications he takes daily and am left up to my neck in medical debt to two hospitals and several of their physicians. We receive a Social Security Disability check as well as a small disability amount, supplemented by a private insurance company from his former employer. Together these total less than $2200 monthly. I have just received a letter from a lawyer telling me that they will be serving me with a summons to appear in court in thirty days unless I submit a payment of over $4500 before then. They tell me that I will be responsible for the entire amount as well as their legal fees. I can barely pay my daily living expenses, I am constantly borrowing money from my family to keep up. I am my husband's caretaker. Hiring someone else to do it would just add on another expense and truthfully, I am not comfortable leaving him. Until my husband is well enough for me to leave him during the day, so that I can get a job the best I can do is send $10 monthly to each hospital and even that small amount will create problems for me. That is however, not even an issue, since they will not settle for small payments. I have been told by several people that disability income can not be garnished; however, I don’t know if that is really true. Even if it is the truth, I don’t know if it will apply to the supplemented amount from the private insurer. Do I have any recourse? Please help.
Very truly yours,
Frances PaganWhat is the name of your state?
Three years ago my husband, a diabetic, who already had heart abnormalities, was diagnosed with cancer. Following a very long and very expensive course of treatment we were left with devastating medical bills. I started to send small payments to try to at least appease the hospital’s collections department. Some time later, due to side effects of Chemotherapy, my husband’s heart problems worsened and he again underwent treatments that were very expensive. My husband would never get well enough to return to work, so he was put on permanent disability. This reduced our income tremendously. Although we were insured, at first privately and then through Medicare, between the medications, the staggeringly expensive chemotherapy treatments, and five surgeries, which included a colostomy and two heart surgeries, the co-pays overwhelmed us. In trying to keep up with paying for medications and whoever had to be paid immediately, I was unable to continue making even small payments to the hospital. Although things have somewhat calmed down, I am still paying for the twelve different medications he takes daily and am left up to my neck in medical debt to two hospitals and several of their physicians. We receive a Social Security Disability check as well as a small disability amount, supplemented by a private insurance company from his former employer. Together these total less than $2200 monthly. I have just received a letter from a lawyer telling me that they will be serving me with a summons to appear in court in thirty days unless I submit a payment of over $4500 before then. They tell me that I will be responsible for the entire amount as well as their legal fees. I can barely pay my daily living expenses, I am constantly borrowing money from my family to keep up. I am my husband's caretaker. Hiring someone else to do it would just add on another expense and truthfully, I am not comfortable leaving him. Until my husband is well enough for me to leave him during the day, so that I can get a job the best I can do is send $10 monthly to each hospital and even that small amount will create problems for me. That is however, not even an issue, since they will not settle for small payments. I have been told by several people that disability income can not be garnished; however, I don’t know if that is really true. Even if it is the truth, I don’t know if it will apply to the supplemented amount from the private insurer. Do I have any recourse? Please help.
Very truly yours,
Frances PaganWhat is the name of your state?