I'm 31. I was diagnosed with cancer in June after two biopsies. Started chemo the same month. Went through 3 months/4 cycles of treatment, and now I'm technically in remission/NED. Looking at about $125,000 in medical debt, and I have no idea what to do. No insurance. Don't qualify for Medicaid in my state. Living at home with my parents. No job. A few thousand saved from selling my mobile home. Feel like I'm on pause and in limbo.
I've been misled by the hospital for months, meaning they know my situation but never seem to give me the full story/are on the same page regarding policy. They have a forgiveness program, but the program just changed its policy in July to not cover special treatments like oncology stuff, so none of my chemo would be covered. I was just told this in October after they'd led me to believe for months that my chemo would be covered. Plus, I moved out of the area (even though I continued treatments at the same hospital), so the forgiveness program will only apply to anything I had done through June when I was living in the county. As of today, it sounds like I could qualify for 100% forgiveness (of non-specialized services) when I apply in December (they keep telling me to wait to apply for their program because the longer I wait the more likely I'll be to qualify for 100% forgiveness since I'm not working). That'll only cover about $40,000, so I'm still looking at crippling debt even with the forgiveness program. Debt is already being sent to collections, and the hospital's financial department says in order to keep a large portion from being sent to collections I need to catch up on minimum monthly payments (about $1000 right now). Otherwise, it's best to just let it go to collections, qualify for the forgiveness program, and then the hospital will pull my debt back to determine what's being forgiven and what isn't. This could take a month or two. After that, I can pay a $300/month minimum payment, interest free, to keep the rest of my debt out of collections. At that rate, I'll be paying this medical bill for the next 25+ years.
I've applied for various programs and grants. Some have been helpful (for a few hundred here and there), others I no longer qualify for because I'm either no longer in treatment or I missed the application deadline window. On top of all this, I feel stronger and like I should be doing something, but I'm technically still in recovery. I know I need to get a job and move out of my parents' house. I know my job's going to need to cover my current bills (which I'm still paying somehow with the help of friends and family) as well as medical bills, rent, utilities, and everything else just to break even every month. Starting in December, I'm going to have to start using the money I saved from my mobile home sale to pay my monthly bills. That money is supposed to be for moving on after all this. I'm seriously at a loss. My mom just gave me a number for a bankruptcy lawyer and wants me to call and ask about my options. I know filing for bankruptcy will cost a few thousand dollars (mobile home money), and the bankruptcy will hang over my head for the next 10 years. I don't want to be forced to file bankruptcy at 31 years old because of crippling medical debt, but the other option is to find a good paying job really soon and pay a minimum monthly (which is equal to my car payment right now) for the foreseeable future. I feel like that's the adult thing to do. Like that's the responsible thing to do. I can't just get cancer, get treated, and expect not to pay my bills. That's not how life works, and I know that. But I also didn't ask for cancer. I didn't expect cancer. I didn't expect a few months of my life this summer to put me in more debt than I've ever been in in my life, and I honestly don't know how to dig my self out of this hole I've fallen into. "Get a job, pay your bills, live life in debt forever. It's the American way." I mean, I understand that sentiment, if that's your advice. I really do. But damn. That's depressing. That's not hope for the future...
Submitted November 15, 2018 at 06:48PM by GizmosArrow https://ift.tt/2zTIrcY
