Volunteer Lawyers for Justice’s Post

🏠💉 Protect Your Home from Medical Debt 💉🏠 Can you imagine losing your home because of unpaid medical bills? It's a harsh reality for many Americans. But don't despair—there are steps you can take to safeguard your home and financial future. In this blog post, we delve into the risks, legal consequences, and strategies for protecting your home from medical debt. 🔍 Key Takeaways: 1️⃣ Negotiate with healthcare providers to reduce bills or set up payment plans. 2️⃣ Explore government assistance programs like Medicaid and Medicare. 3️⃣ Build an emergency fund to cover unexpected medical expenses. 4️⃣ Understand state laws on homestead exemptions and medical debt collections. 💡 Did you know? State-specific regulations vary widely. For example, Arkansas has generous homestead exemptions protecting home equity from creditors. 💬 Real Life Example: Meet Tim from Bryant. Facing $15,000 in medical debt, Tim feared losing his home. But with our help, he invoked homestead rights to void an illegal lien and negotiated a reduced balance with the hospital. 📚 Knowledge is power. Arm yourself with information to protect your most valuable asset—your home. Read our blog to learn more: https://lnkd.in/daHjgcJX  If you need legal help, we’re here for ya. Whether it’s questions about anything to do with family law, employment law, estate planning, or bankruptcy, give us a call to schedule a free consultation at 855-667-8487. Or schedule online at wh.law/socialconsult 

Why is acceptable to use federal tax revenue from other states to hand out to citizens in blue states? NY and California are doing this also. How is this legal? The federal government has no money. Any funds given come from ALL states.

I just wrote the third set of letters to resolve MEDICAL DEBT for a client. Yes, 3 sets of letters over the course of a few months time to the medical care providers and the collections' agencies. ✉ Three letters each to the hospital's collection agency and the hospital. Three letters each to the hospital's employed physicians who billed both on the hospital bill and separately (??!!) and their collection agencies. Why so many? What's up with this? Here are the reasons: 1. They don't bill correctly yet refuse to correct the bill. 2. They don't follow the laws pursuant to the ACA nor the FCRA, yet expect the customer to suffer the consequences and pay heavily. 3. They pad the bill with up-coding and over-testing; and they double bill. 4. They don't offer financial assistance even though they were clearly told the customer had no insurance and limited income. In our Done-For-You program, we push the medical debt creators to correct their errors and reduce the bill to what the customer actually owes. In this case, using reasonable codes to match the care in the chart & chart notes; and, using the Medicare level of reimbursement for those codes, these bills would go from $70,000.00 to about $4000.00 You can see clearly why the customer needs help and is willing to engage it. We don't use donations to pay the hospital 17.5 times what they actually are owed. Our program uses actual services rendered to the client and friendly yet firm negotiation to save our clients THOUSANDS of $$. That's what we call Debt Reduction. What's hilarious is the hospital could have been paid by now if they had simply corrected the errors and then given financial assistance. Silly rabbits! 🐰 Need help with MEDICAL DEBT {or CREDIT CARD DEBT} (over $10,000)? Give us a call, or DM. We'll be the Debt Busters til the debt creators get their stuff 💩 together and do things right. 👉 Don't go broke or bankrupt. 💔 Get some help and fight back. 🥊 Save Time. Reduce Frustration. Get Better Results. For smaller levels of medical debt, you can DIY it after you read "Never Pay the First Bill". © 2024 Ronda Cobb, the Money Coach ™ #debtreductionprogram #medicaldebt #creditcarddebt #rondacobbthemoneycoach

𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗡𝗝 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗲𝗯𝘁 New Jersey has enacted the Louisa Carman Medical Debt Relief Act, signed into law last week by Gov. Phil Murphy. This landmark legislation, named after a dedicated administration staffer who tragically passed away, provides critical protections for those burdened by medical debt: •𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱: Medical debt interest rates are now capped at 3%. •𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Most medical debts cannot be reported to credit-rating agencies. •𝗗𝗲𝗯𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲: A 120-day grace period following the sending of the first medical bill before debt collection can begin. •𝗙𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀: Payments can't exceed 3% of monthly income and must adjust to financial changes. •𝗪𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: No garnishing wages for those earning less than 600% of the federal poverty level. This law is welcome news for many of the clients Volunteer Lawyers for Justice serves. As Jeff Stephens, Senior Staff Attorney and Program Lead for VLJ’s Debt Relief Legal Program, put it: “Many of our clients are facing collection actions as a result of extensive medical debt, and this new law provides much-needed relief, including credit reporting limitations, income-based wage garnishment restrictions, and enforcement protections. This law moves us in the right direction toward ensuring that a person's health related challenges are not exacerbated by creditor actions on a person's unavoidable medical debt.” 🔗Read more from Nikita Biryukov with the New Jersey Monitor: https://lnkd.in/eZffeGWA #VLJNJ #MedicalDebtRelief #ProBono #CivilLegalAid #FreeLegalHelp #FreeLegalServices #NewJersey

https://lnkd.in/eJqd3Av9 Takeaway: Pennsylvania lawmakers gathered at the Capitol to address outstanding medical debts for residents through House Bill 78. The proposed legislation aims to establish a program within the Department of Health to relieve debts for individuals living at or below 400% of the federal poverty level, equivalent to $60,240 for a single person and $124,800 for a family of four. The program would also cover obligations amounting to 5% or more of a person’s income. Medical debt is commonly sold at a fraction of its value, at 1 cent on the dollar, enabling debt collectors to purchase it inexpensively and demand repayment with interest. House Bill 78 proposes allowing the state to purchase such debt directly. Governor Josh Shapiro’s initiative to invest $4 million in debt could potentially discharge $400 million for residents across the state.

This is great news and it’s a great start! However there are some problems. First, what is considered income— net or gross? Presuming this is gross income, someone earning $48,000/year, the max they would be required to pay is $120/month. However, if that’s a single parent with two kids, $120 is still a lot! And is this the limit for all bills or each bill? Second, this bill prohibits wage garnishment against most debtors— but it doesn’t say anything about other collection remedies. Knowing that this will make it harder for for-profit healthcare systems to get every last dime, I worry that certain unscrupulous healthcare systems will be quick to litigate — or even worse, embed unenforceable security agreements underneath pages of consent forms that can be use to intimidate vulnerable debtors.

Medical bills can be overwhelming and stressful, but they don’t have to ruin your credit! Whether it's an unexpected emergency or a planned procedure, medical debt can sneak up on anyone. Understanding how to handle medical debt is crucial for maintaining a healthy credit score and ensuring your financial well-being. Here’s how to manage it like a pro: Check the comment section for more info⬇️📌 1. Verify the Debt: - Get your credit reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. - Make sure the medical debt listed is accurate. Double-check amounts and dates. 2. Dispute Inaccuracies: - Found an error? Dispute it! Contact the credit bureaus with your documentation to get mistakes corrected. 3. Negotiate with Healthcare Providers: - Reach out to the provider or collection agency. - Set up a payment plan or negotiate a settlement amount. 4. Seek Financial Assistance: - Look into financial aid or charity care programs offered by the hospital or clinic. You might qualify for help! 5. Know Your Rights: - The No Surprises Act protects you from unexpected bills from out-of-network providers. - Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), medical debt can’t appear on your credit report until it’s 180 days old, giving you time to resolve it. 6. Consider Professional Help: - Feeling overwhelmed? Credit repair organizations and financial advisors can offer expert guidance and negotiation assistance. 7. Monitor Your Credit Report: - Regularly check your reports to ensure any paid-off or resolved medical debts are accurately updated. Take control of your medical debt and protect your financial future! Need assistance in rebuilding your credit click the link below ⬇️ and let’s get started tappbuildingsolutions.com

We consolidated over £1.1 million of existing debt in March, helping one Somerset NHS Foundation Trust Administrator to save £128 per month on their existing repayments. Debt consolidation can be a great option to save money and reduce the financial stress of managing multiple monthly repayments. Just be sure to consider the following to ensure it is the right option for you 👉 #DebtConsolidation

Medical debt is a leading cause of bankruptcy in the US. And medical debt disproportionately affects people of color, women, and low-income families. Analysis from The Commonwealth Fund by Maanasa Kona and Vrudhi Raimugia examines current medical debt protections at federal and state levels and where they fall short. Highlights include: 🔶 Federal medical debt protection standards are vague and rarely enforced. Patient protections at the state level help address key gaps in federal protections. 🔶 20 states have their own financial assistance standards, and 27 have community benefit standards. The strength of these standards varies widely. 🔶 Relatively few states regulate billing and collections practices or limit the legal remedies available to creditors. Only five states have reporting requirements that are robust enough to identify noncompliance with state law and trends of discriminatory practices. 🔶 Future patient protections could improve access to financial assistance, ensure that nonprofit hospitals are earning their tax exemption, and limit aggressive billing and collections practices. 🔶 Furthermore, federal and state policymakers can require nonprofit hospitals to invest in community benefits in return for tax exemptions. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gPP-mT2Z #healthcare #equity #debt #bankruptcy #collections

The best protection against medical debt woujd be a system that existed to deliver health to individuals, not profit to businesses nor multi-million dollar salaries to executives. Other similar countries do not drive their citizens into bankruptcy via healthcare. Yet, while not taking care of our own citizens, we somehow find billions every few months to pay for wars in foreign countries so bombs that say “USA” on them can cripple previously healthy children. This country’s citizens need to take power back and re-set the priorities so that we value American lives and health and take care of our own country first.