Two of the top reasons often cited for bankruptcy are job loss and medical expenses. Part of the reason for this is that they can both be unexpected. Someone who suddenly gets fired or gets severely injured in an accident may find themselves facing overwhelming debt one day that they honestly weren’t facing the day before.
But, like many financial situations, these things can also be intertwined. In the United States, there is no universal healthcare. Most people are simply offered a healthcare plan through their employment. They have insurance, but only because they have a job.
This makes getting fired even more dire than it would be otherwise. In many other countries, you could lose your job and begin looking for another one, but you wouldn’t have to worry about health complications. In the United States, if you lose your job and then suffer a medical emergency, you’ll have no insurance, and you would suddenly be on the hook for what could be overwhelming medical debt.
What do you do if this happens?
You can see how something like this could happen even though it’s completely out of your control. Maybe you got fired because your company was downsizing, not because you made any mistakes. Maybe the illness that you suffered came on without warning, even though you went to the doctor for your annual checkups. But now both situations have created a perfect storm where you’re facing medical bills at the same time that you are seeing a drastic reduction in your income – and you don’t have medical insurance to help cover the costs.
In this type of dire situation, it’s very important to know about bankruptcy and all the other potential options you have.