• 01
  • March
    2011

When a worker becomes unemployed, his or her first concerns are usually maintaining mortgage and car payments, buying food and other necessities, and simply making ends meet. The realization that unemployment has also brought a loss or decrease in medical benefits can be an afterthought. But without health care coverage, any medical issue or emergency can bring with it overwhelming medical debt. Such insurmountable debt is causing many Tennessee residents to resort to drastic measures, such as bankruptcy, to solve their financial crises.

According to officials with West Tennessee Healthcare, there are currently 36 uninsured Tennesseans who owe Jackson-Madison County General Hospital between $50,000 and $100,000, and a staggering 7,000 people owing between $1 and $50,000. In sum, debtors currently owe almost $22 million in medical payments to General Hospital. Officials say that this amount has grown by 14 percent since September 2009, as COBRA plans for unemployed workers expired and as layoffs continued throughout the region.

Such medical debt often leads to a bankruptcy filing. In Jackson, the majority of people who file for bankruptcy protection owe between $10,000 and $15,000 in medical bills that they are unable to pay. With no gainful employment on the horizon, debtors have little hope that they will be able to make good on these debts.

However, medical debt does not need to result in bankruptcy. Those who are unable to make payments are urged to call their medical care providers and attempt to work out a payment plan. In doing so, debtors should never agree to pay more than they can afford, ensuring that they are still able to make mortgage payments and to pay for necessities such as food and clothing.

Source: Jackson Sun, "Lost benefits can be as damaging as lost jobs", Ned B. Hunder, 27 February 2011