Having health insurance is an important part of being able to access and afford necessary medical care. Unfortunately, it is not always enough. For some people in Connecticut, health insurance policies still leave gaps that leave them burdened with so much medical debt that filing for personal bankruptcy is the only option.
An out-of-state couple is currently working five jobs in an attempt to repay their astounding medical debt. In the 10 months since they welcomed their firstborn child into the world, they have racked up approximately $12,000 worth of medical bills. The in-network hospital that the mother delivered at billed them $4,000 for what was a routine delivery. They were hit with more medical costs when the baby was hospitalized at only 2 months old.
Not only are they struggling to repay what feels like an impossible debt level, they are also ignoring their own needs in the process. The mother uses a prosthetic limb because of a medically-necessary amputation from her childhood. Now in need of a new prosthetic, she cannot imagine a way to cover the tens of thousands of dollars it would cost to purchase one.
Working multiple jobs and over a hundred hours a week is often unsustainable in the long term and can cause both physical and emotional problems for people. Still, many people in Connecticut take on these exact burdens in order to try and repay some of their debts. Personal bankruptcy can potentially provide a less strenuous path to debt relief for people who wish they could repay their debts, but are simply unable to do so.
