Keeping things short, I'm a 25 year old with no college degree and I have lived in Ohio most my life. Also I have a rare genetic disorder that makes forces my body to break down muscle tissue in a process known as rhabdomyolysis, this can escalate to something as serious as kidney failure if I don't go to the ER and/or get admitted for a few days. To make it overly simple, instead of burning fat I burn muscle. I take medication to help stop this process but it there are moments where it's not enough, if I am sick and can't eat food this can cause my condition to flare up. Despite how bad this might sound I live a mostly normal life and that's a part of the problem.
Though my ER visits have been on the decline with better medication and pacing, they can still range from 1-5 a year and my hospital admissions can range from 1-3, days spent in hospital can be 3-8 days. So you can see where things pile up. Because of this constant build up I've been neglecting many of my hospital bills the past year, some I pay in collections and others from hospital, but I can't pay them all and I suffer from both depression and anxiety which does not help my current situation. I know can't ignore these bills but it all seems hopeless for me. I make less than 20K a year, but enough that Medicaid dropped my short coverage 7 month(yes month) coverage after I got a raise. As for insurance, The Affordable Care act is only affordable if you're not in a situation like mine, premiums are financially crushing for the type of coverage I would need to make it even worth it, but this is an option if I can find a much better source of income down the line.
I only own a car and a PC, aside from that I live with my father and don't have any estate past that. Would it be wise to file for medical bankruptcy and rebuild my life or are there programs that can help me that won't cost me another fortune? I know I can negotiate with hospitals sometimes but what path is best to take? I just don't want to go on disability, I want to work towards living on my gaining independence and that will take it away. I have bills to pay no matter what job I got.
No matter how well this post works I'm going to be speaking with my local hospital again soon since that's where most of my debt is, but if anyone out there has advice for this situation I would really appreciate it.
TL;DR I'm in a lot of medical debt and I need to know if I should just file bankruptcy while I'm young, negotiate/find a program with hospital, or go down a different path I don't know about.(Hence why I'm asking the internet)
Not looking for sympathy in this post, I just need advice on how to deal with this, don't spare details! I'd really prefer if I didn't receive private messages, thanks! :)
Submitted March 01, 2018 at 05:48AM by FullMetalSushi http://ift.tt/2HTHxAn
