Unexpected illness or medical complications can result in incredible medical debt that drowns your other financial responsibilities. Despite comprehensive health care reform that has swept the nation, many Americans are still struggling with medical debt. In fact, many studies show that modifications to our health care system are unlikely to lower the number of medical bankruptcies. If you’re expecting to incur more medical debt, it’s important to work with your Tampa bankruptcy lawyer to time your bankruptcy to include all your debts.
How to Discharge Your Medical Debt
If you’re struggling with medical debt and are considering a bankruptcy to seek relief, it’s important to consider your medical condition. In other words, if you expect to incur more medical debt in the future, it might be a wise idea to wait. Because you have limitations as to how often you can file for bankruptcy, you’ll want to include all your medical debt at once. Working with a bankruptcy lawyer will help your file when the time is right. By waiting until your medical condition is stabilized and all your medical debt is accrued, you can work to discharge or reduce all your medical debt at once.
When working with a bankruptcy attorney it’s important to remember:
You can only discharge debts that exist during filing. If you file for bankruptcy and incur more medical debt before the discharge, the new debt won’t be discharged since it occurred after the filing. This is why it’s important to time your bankruptcy after all your medical debt is accumulated.
You can delay your bankruptcy. If you’re still receiving medical treatment, work with your bankruptcy lawyer to delay the bankruptcy. Furthermore, your bankruptcy lawyer could give you tips and resources for money management as you wait to file for bankruptcy.
Understand the rules to discharge. Meeting with a bankruptcy lawyer will help you understand how often you can receive a bankruptcy discharge. When it comes to a Chapter 7, you must wait 8 years since your last discharge while you only need to wait 4 years for a Chapter 13.