|
He survived a heart attack only to end up facing a $27,000 hospital bill and a levy against his home
I am absolutely DISGUSTED with Citizens Memorial Hospital and the way my father has been treated over a medical debt. My dad suffered a widowmaker heart attack. He survived something that could have killed him, only to end up facing a roughly $27,000 hospital bill. Now there is a levy involving his HOME, and his house has been posted for auction while he is STILL LIVING IN IT. Read that again. A man goes to the hospital because he is having a life-threatening heart attack, survives, and years later is facing the possibility of LOSING THE ROOF OVER HIS HEAD because of the debt that followed. My father is not some wealthy man hiding assets and refusing to pay his bills. He is a hardworking single father who raised me and worked his entire life for what he has. That house is his HOME. It is his security. It is where he sleeps at night. And now we are fighting to keep him from potentially being left with nowhere to go. How is this what healthcare has become? You go to a hospital because you are DYING. You don't exactly have the luxury of shopping around, negotiating prices, or saying, "Actually, never mind, this heart attack is a little outside my budget." I understand that medical services cost money. I understand that debts exist. What I cannot accept is a system where a person can survive a medical emergency and then face losing their HOME because they couldn't afford the enormous bill that came afterward. My family is living this nightmare right now. So before you receive care through Citizens Memorial Hospital, PLEASE understand what can happen when the bills come afterward. Ask questions. Ask about financial assistance. Get everything in writing. Keep every bill, letter, court document, and collection notice. Nobody should survive a widowmaker heart attack just to spend their remaining years terrified that the home they worked their entire life for could be taken away. We are fighting this, and I am going to keep speaking about what is happening to my father. Because people deserve to know.
|
