Saturday, October 31, 2009

Bereaved mother fights for changed bankruptcy laws





BY LARRY MARGASAK

Posted by Michael Rivezzo

A Rhode Island woman urged senators Tuesday to ease bankruptcy rules for people devastated by medical debt, as she described the pain of losing a child and going broke from his health care bills.

The experience of Kerry Burns, of Coventry, R.I., raised a crucial question of bankruptcy law: should people going broke due to high medical bills get a break over those bankrupted by divorce or high credit card bills?

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., chaired the Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on his bill to create an exception for people whose medical bills are their main cause of financial distress.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., disagreed with a major provision of the bill: Elimination of an income-related test for medical debtors only. The test currently is required to determine if someone is qualified for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which allows the debtor to get a fresh start by wiping out all debts.

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1 comment:

  1. I agree that there are a lot of individuals with high medical bills leading to major debt. However, with the current debate on health care reform in the Obama Administration as well as lobbyists that affect the outcome of the bill, I doubt very highly that in the end lawmakers will make exceptions for those with high medical debt.

    -- Lisa Matthys

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