When people are considering bankruptcy, a feeling of shame may be involved. After all, financial failure is a failure, and American society does not tolerate this well. But many kinds of debt do not come from a lack of shrewdness in the stock market or a bad spending habit.
Some debt is simply related to survival. Medical debt, accrued through costly health care procedures, is on the rise in the United States, where top-quality medical attention is available at the same time as an aggressive insurance market that leaves many out in the cold.
A recent study determined that more than 25% of Americans have had trouble paying medical bills recently. Hospital stays, which are often unexpected, and therefore, hard to prepare for patients, are a major factor in this problem. But even checkups and routine procedures can be expensive.
Medical bankruptcy is the popular term for filings in bankruptcy court caused by medical debt. The statistics on these types of bankruptcies show a cross section of American people and families that is more diverse than other bankruptcy filers. Many have adequate income, a good education and few other debts at the time. But the average medical bankruptcy still involves nearly $45,000 in debt.
People who are facing bankruptcy due to medical debt may get the help of an attorney when it’s time to make the decision. A lawyer can help advise on alternate forms of debt relief if they are possible. If they are not, legal representation is often helpful in bankruptcy courts to make a filing easier and possibly more likely to succeed.
