That’s the question raised by a USA Today article on the topic of medical debt in the age of the new health care law, the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare.” Medical debt was and still is the number one driver of New York bankruptcy. In many patients’ cases in previous years, lack of health insurance meant that out-of-pocket costs could rapidly rise into the tens of thousands of dollars and be impossible to pay off. Now that Americans are required to have health insurance, such nightmare scenarios won’t be as common anymore.
That’s good news, but the question that remains is, will Americans still have to go into debt to pay their out-of-pocket medical bills? The answer in many cases is yes because high deductibles under the new plans might be unaffordable.
A deductible is an amount of money that insureds (ones who buy insurance from insurers) must pay before the insurer will pay the remaining bill. The purpose is to limit insurance coverage to major health problems as opposed to a series of trivial ones. According to the USA Today article’s analysis, the average deductible for plans on the federal exchange was $3,000, and the least expensive plans had deductibles of more than $5,000. According to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, most Americans have only $3,000 on hand to pay off medical bills. After that, they’ll have to go into debt.
Furthermore, many Americans are required to pay insurance premiums that are still too high for their incomes. Others are required to pay their deductibles before copayments begin. A copayment is (usually) a small payment the insured must make at the doctor’s office to discourage frivolous medical visits. The result, again, is that they may have to go into debt to pay off their medical bills, which could also lead to medical bankruptcy.
Link to the USA Today article here.
The Affordable Care Act does a lot of good for many Americans who need health care, particularly those with preexisting conditions who couldn’t get health insurance before. It’s also necessary in a time when many Americans are self-employed in a stagnant economy and can’t benefit from employer health plans. However, that doesn’t mean the new law ensures that people won’t have problems paying insurance under the current system. If you need to borrow money for paying deductibles, copays, and even premiums for your health insurance, and it’s causing financial problems for you, you might benefit from consulting with an experienced New York bankruptcy lawyer.
For answers to more questions about medical bankruptcy, the automatic stay, effective strategies for dealing with foreclosure, and protecting your assets in bankruptcy please feel free to contact experienced bankruptcy adversary proceedings Bruce Weiner for a free initial consultation.