Medical Bills and Bankruptcy

2. Are medical bills dischargeable in a chapter 7 bankruptcy?

If you are swamped with astronomical medical bills, then filing for a chapter 7 can in many instances will allow you to completely eliminate them. If you are eligible to file for a chapter 7 then you can eliminate your medical bills, hospital charges, doctor bills, medical collections, dental bills, and almost all other medical related debt. Medical related debts are considered to unsecured debts, and they are treated in the bankruptcy process almost exactly like credit card debts. Thus, medical bills can be totally eliminated in a chapter 7 case.

3. How are medical bills treated in a chapter 13 bankruptcy?

If you are a debtor, and if you earn too much to file a chapter 7 case, and if a bankruptcy means test requires you to file for chapter 13, then you still may be able to eliminate a significant amount of your medical bills. A chapter 13 case is a court supervised a repayment plan. In a chapter 13 case a debtor is allowed to keep his most important property while he repays a percentage of his debts over time. If you file for chapter 13 then you may be able to significantly reduce your medical bills. In a chapter 13 you are only required to repay a percentage of your medical bills over a three to five-year period of time. The percentage of your medical bills that you will be required to repay will be based on your disposable income. In the majority of the cases a chapter 13 case forces unsecured creditors like medical debts, hospital bills, and doctors’ bills to accept pennies on the dollar.

4. What is a summary of a debtor’s ability to eliminate or reduce medical debt by filing for bankruptcy?

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