Financial Heads Up for the Uninsured

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Although I’ve recently blogged about some things that I consider gloomy, I don’t like to do so, but some things just need to be brought to the attention of others at times. This morning I feel compelled to share a couple of articles I read in two different issues of my print edition of Businessweek that I think are rather alarming for the uninsured.

The first article I want to highlight, titled Fresh Pain for the Uninsured, is about how some medical facilities are now handing over the accounts of some patients, mostly uninsured patients from what I understand, to financial institutions. The clincher? A person could be charged as much as 27% interest on their debt depending on their credit rating.

The second article I want to highlight, titled Prisoners of Debt, is about the collection of debts that have been discharged in bankruptcy and how some companies are now buying up those discharged debts and attempting to collect on them.

Now, before anybody gets upset, let me say that I certainly don’t advocate bankruptcy when someone has just been totally irresponsible. I do believe, however, there are some circumstances when folks should either be allowed to restructure their debt payment plans/options or be forgiven of their debt.

Read the articles and then put two and two together to see how devastating it could be for the uninsured on very limited incomes who, in many cases, are (or were before retirement on limited incomes) honest, hardworking folks who do try to do the right thing.

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