I've been fighting insurance and medical bills not cancer

kpq1918

In August 2024, I was diagnosed with renal cancer that had spread and attached itself to my spine. I work for myself, so I got private health insurance. They would only insure me for one year at a time. My insurance expired on November 7,2024, but that's alright because I got on my wife's company's plan.

My old insurance wasn't paying any of the bills and they told me they were investigating my illness and my insurance policy. In December 2024, they rescinded my policy from November 2023-November 2024. This has left us about $150K in medical bills plus there is a $230K hospital bill that hasn't been sent to us yet. When I got diagnosed, I was in the hospital for 10 days and had an 8 hour surgery to install rods and screws in my back to the cancer pushing on my spine and almost breaking it.

We talked to a bankruptcy lawyer and she said don't pay the medical bills. She said you need to focus on yourself and healing and getting better. She's absolutely right, but I don't know what to do with these bills. The hospital saved my life and I want them to get paid, but we simply don't have any money to pay them.

The bills are all in my name, so I believe if I die, my wife won't be stuck with them. Also, the house is in both are names so I don't think they can take our house. I've always paid my bills and I've never accepted any kind of government assistance, but now I need some kind of help. I'm trying not to think of the bills, but I can't help it and I don't know what will happen.

We've been paying all my bills since we got the new insurance in November, but we have all the debt from August to November.

Can anyone give some advice? I've tried talking to the bill collectors a couple of times and they've reduced the charges to the amounts I listed above.

CSNSupportTeam

Hi kpq1918,

Thank you for reaching out to your American Cancer Society's Cancer Survivors Network.

It sounds like a incredibly difficult time for you and your wife. Please reach out to us at ACS's National Cancer Information Center. You can call our toll-free number, 1.800.227.2345, where Cancer Information Specialists are available around the clock every day of the week to speak with you. They can look for resources that may be able to work on your behalf. You can also utilize the Live Chat feature Monday through Friday between 7am-6:30pm CST on www.cancer.org.

Best regards,

Ken

CSN Support Team