What Happens When A Patient Can’t Pay Medical Bills: Protecting Assets From Unexpected Risks

August 4, 2011.  What Happens When A Patient Can’t Pay Medical Bills: Protecting Assets From Unexpected Risks (San Francisco Chronicle).  An issue of increasing importance in the legal field addresses the question of how to protect accumulated savings from medical expense related liability risks, according to an article by attorney Robert J. Mintz in the August edition of the The Asset Protection Newsletter.  The problem, according to Mintz, is that a brief stay in the hospital may cost tens of thousands of dollars and a serious injury or illness lasting weeks or months can exceed almost anybody’s ability to pay.  Is there any advance planning available to protect individuals and families from unexpected medical bills?  The potential for financial disaster is well known and obvious to those who are uninsured.  But even for those who are lucky enough to be insured under private or employer plans, the financial risk remains significant.  Uncovered medical expenses due to lifetime policy caps, large co-payments, coverage exclusions and outright denial of claims can result in unexpected medical bills that would financially stagger even the wealthiest individuals…