KANSAS CITY, MO -
Every 30 seconds someone in America files for bankruptcy because of a medical disaster. That's according to a Harvard study that found 62 percent of all bankruptcies can now be linked to a medical cause. But the one group of Americans that may be most affected by health reform that is unable to spend a single dollar on lobbying congress.
The American Association of Retired People says nearly two million people a year now file bankruptcy because of a medical issue. What may be most surprising about that figure is experts say most of those two million people had health insurance.
Count Tonni Brende of Independence among them. Her 10-year old son Johnathan was born with severe disabilities, what doctors call spastic quad cerebral palsy. He can't talk or walk and needs his mom's 24-hour care. Brende says, "You do without some things, you learn how to cut corners."
But Johnathan isn't the reason his parents declared bankruptcy. He's covered by medicaid. Brende adds that's only because her husband turned down a raise. She says the choice was "to say poor or be a millioniare, there is no in-between."
The family's unpaid medical bills are becasue of Tonni.
She contracted Hepatitis C in 2007 saying, "it started out with I needed to get some labs and actually got a credit card to get my labs done." Tonni says her insurance company refused to cover her illness. They called it a preexisting condition, Toni says she and her husband had been $2,800 dollars in premiums for a family of seven only to find out, "They don't cover anything. I got sicker because I couldn't afford to go to the doctor. I quit going when the insurance company quit paying and I saw how the bills were piling up."
Brende's situation doesn't surprise consumer credit counselor Christi Estes who says, "Medical debt in increasingly bankruptcy."
Estes is with the non-profit agency Forbes and Newhard Credit Solutions. She says most of the people she tries to help have insurance but can't keep up with their medical bills, adding "It's a lot easier with the people that come to me to get them help if they have no insurance whatsoever. If they have no insurance whatsoever, I can find them all kinds of agencies or the pharmaceutical companies will cover all of it or most of it."
Hospitals are increasingly eating the costs of the uninsured. In Missouri, no hospital sees more uninsured patients than Kansas City's Truman Medical Center. The hospital's Vice President of Policy is Gerard Grimaldi. He says, "in the Kansas City area we provide about a third to 40-percent of all uncompensated care." Grimaldi says last year that meant 33,000 patients who couldn't pay $92 million dollars in bills, "when there is a huge gape or an operating loss which we've had in three of the past four years, it requires us to defer maintenance."
In some cases, hospitals are leaning on debt collectors like Overland Park's Sue Munoz. Munoz works for a law firm that goes after debtors and says, "I want to see are you really telling me the truth. Have you cut corners where you can cut corners?" Munoz says increasingly what she sees aren't deadbeats but desperate people, "Most people are good people. They just want to pay their bills. They didn't want to go into bankruptcy. That's not their goal but a lot of people are being forced that way."
Jim Trinidad of Liberty, Missouri is one of those people. He owns a mobile electronics business but says he's lost 22 car dealerships that were customers. Jim's finances are in trouble because of a car accident involving his 29-year old son. Jim Junior has been in a vegatative state for 12-years. He was hit by a car while changing a tire on the side of a highway. His dad says, "He got hit so hard that it knocked his leg completely behind him and over his shoulder and split his head open about seven different places."
Jim Junior spent nearly ten years in nursing homes but after countless bed sores, infections and emergency room visits his father brought him home. Trinidad says, "I've been with my son 12-years. You can't take my son out of state where I can't be with him. So I called somebody and said no I want my son home, he's had enough."
Medicaid provides a nurse five hours a day but Jim Junior needs care twenty-four-seven. Jim Trinidad, as a single day, was forced to work less hours to care for his son. His bills piled up and his house went into foreclosure. It's not medical debt but Jim Trinidad says if not for a medical crisis, he wouldn't be in bankruptcy. Trinidad says, "It's belittling for for me to have to of filed bankruptcy. You don't know how much that hurts me because I built my credit up and watch it go right out the window. I mean why should I care, this is the only reason I care, is because of my son.
Jim Trinidad Jr. and Johnathan Brende are both trapped in bodies that won't let them walk or talk. Their parents are trapped in bankruptcy. Johnathan's mom Tonni says filing was "Such a relief. The day we filed the phone calls got to stop. I can actually answer my phone."
But Tonni Brende's relief may be short-lived. Bankruptcy erases old debt but not new debt. As Tony knows, most people facing a medical crisis, in her case Hepatitis C, keep racking up new medical bills after they file bankruptcy.
The American Association of Retired People says nearly two million people a year now file bankruptcy because of a medical issue. What may be most surprising about that figure is experts say most of those two million people had health insurance.
Count Tonni Brende of Independence among them. Her 10-year old son Johnathan was born with severe disabilities, what doctors call spastic quad cerebral palsy. He can't talk or walk and needs his mom's 24-hour care. Brende says, "You do without some things, you learn how to cut corners."
But Johnathan isn't the reason his parents declared bankruptcy. He's covered by medicaid. Brende adds that's only because her husband turned down a raise. She says the choice was "to say poor or be a millioniare, there is no in-between."
The family's unpaid medical bills are becasue of Tonni.
She contracted Hepatitis C in 2007 saying, "it started out with I needed to get some labs and actually got a credit card to get my labs done." Tonni says her insurance company refused to cover her illness. They called it a preexisting condition, Toni says she and her husband had been $2,800 dollars in premiums for a family of seven only to find out, "They don't cover anything. I got sicker because I couldn't afford to go to the doctor. I quit going when the insurance company quit paying and I saw how the bills were piling up."
Brende's situation doesn't surprise consumer credit counselor Christi Estes who says, "Medical debt in increasingly bankruptcy."
Estes is with the non-profit agency Forbes and Newhard Credit Solutions. She says most of the people she tries to help have insurance but can't keep up with their medical bills, adding "It's a lot easier with the people that come to me to get them help if they have no insurance whatsoever. If they have no insurance whatsoever, I can find them all kinds of agencies or the pharmaceutical companies will cover all of it or most of it."
Hospitals are increasingly eating the costs of the uninsured. In Missouri, no hospital sees more uninsured patients than Kansas City's Truman Medical Center. The hospital's Vice President of Policy is Gerard Grimaldi. He says, "in the Kansas City area we provide about a third to 40-percent of all uncompensated care." Grimaldi says last year that meant 33,000 patients who couldn't pay $92 million dollars in bills, "when there is a huge gape or an operating loss which we've had in three of the past four years, it requires us to defer maintenance."
In some cases, hospitals are leaning on debt collectors like Overland Park's Sue Munoz. Munoz works for a law firm that goes after debtors and says, "I want to see are you really telling me the truth. Have you cut corners where you can cut corners?" Munoz says increasingly what she sees aren't deadbeats but desperate people, "Most people are good people. They just want to pay their bills. They didn't want to go into bankruptcy. That's not their goal but a lot of people are being forced that way."
Jim Trinidad of Liberty, Missouri is one of those people. He owns a mobile electronics business but says he's lost 22 car dealerships that were customers. Jim's finances are in trouble because of a car accident involving his 29-year old son. Jim Junior has been in a vegatative state for 12-years. He was hit by a car while changing a tire on the side of a highway. His dad says, "He got hit so hard that it knocked his leg completely behind him and over his shoulder and split his head open about seven different places."
Jim Junior spent nearly ten years in nursing homes but after countless bed sores, infections and emergency room visits his father brought him home. Trinidad says, "I've been with my son 12-years. You can't take my son out of state where I can't be with him. So I called somebody and said no I want my son home, he's had enough."
Medicaid provides a nurse five hours a day but Jim Junior needs care twenty-four-seven. Jim Trinidad, as a single day, was forced to work less hours to care for his son. His bills piled up and his house went into foreclosure. It's not medical debt but Jim Trinidad says if not for a medical crisis, he wouldn't be in bankruptcy. Trinidad says, "It's belittling for for me to have to of filed bankruptcy. You don't know how much that hurts me because I built my credit up and watch it go right out the window. I mean why should I care, this is the only reason I care, is because of my son.
Jim Trinidad Jr. and Johnathan Brende are both trapped in bodies that won't let them walk or talk. Their parents are trapped in bankruptcy. Johnathan's mom Tonni says filing was "Such a relief. The day we filed the phone calls got to stop. I can actually answer my phone."
But Tonni Brende's relief may be short-lived. Bankruptcy erases old debt but not new debt. As Tony knows, most people facing a medical crisis, in her case Hepatitis C, keep racking up new medical bills after they file bankruptcy.
