Yesterday I responded to a radio broadcast on National Public Radio about filing bankruptcy.  Another broadcast, on Morning Edition, highlighted the fact that medical debt is now the largest cause of personal bankruptcy.

As a bankruptcy attorney in Indiana, I'm seeing more and more medical debt.  Sadly, this threatens to become an even bigger problem because families who relied on credit cards to pay medical costs are being caught in the vise of tightening credit.

The three leading causes of bankruptcy have been job loss, medical bills, and divorce.  In recent months, many have been caught between the rock of job loss - which has meant the loss of not only income but of health benefits and the "hard place" of rising medical costs. To make matters worse, people with no coverage tend to skip routine care, and so medical conditions worsen.

One unfortunate sidebar that I've seen in my practice is that medical providers rarely report delinquencies to credit bureaus.  Instead, often within just weeks of bills being overdue, they turn the debts over to collection agencies.

One of the things I hope these Indiana bankruptcy blogs will accomplish is helping debtors protect themselves against extraordinary harassment by collections people.  That's what the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is about. Overzealous collection of medical debt has been an increasing problem, and abuses need to be reported to the Attorney General's office.  Some of the no-no's are calling several times in a single day, calling on Sundays, or calling at work.

Sometimes the bankruptcy safety net is the only medicine strong enough to handle the financial illness caused by medical misfortunes!