I posted this but didn't get much response so trying again with much less detail...
- Sudden congestive heart failure landed me in the hospital for 1 week.
- $37,500 bill for treatment. Applied for aid with the hospital and was denied - called and the aid office told me to immediately apply for reconsideration as they 'know i can't pay this bill'. They calculated my yearly income based off past 3 months at $37,000 - and said their cutoff was about $36000.
- No insurance (laid off december 2017, was starting business so hectic and just didn't cross mind)
- Cardiologist said I need open heart surgery to repair a valve and referred me to a surgeon. I am now considering not going in and just taking the medication indefinitely. (medication seems to be helping, lost all water weight, feel much better).
- 38 year old single male, no prior medical history. no kids.
- 250K mortgage (3.35% apr), $8000 Consolidated credit card debt (11% apr), no other debt. 755 credit score.
- ~65K income (Self employed), highly variable on economy and month to month
- $2500 cash to my name. No retirement savings. Fairly good equity in my home.
My options that I am exploring are:
- selling my house and leaving the country
- declaring chapter 13 bankruptcy (can they force me to sell my house to pay the bill?)
- just not paying and letting the bill go to collections so I can negotiate for a much lower amount
- just not paying. i'm self employed so they can't technically garnish any wages. what happens if they sue me?
I am currently leaning towards #1...
Submitted May 29, 2019 at 08:01AM by KindOrdinary http://bit.ly/2XcU1ub
