In this conversational video, two speakers discuss the growing U.S. medical debt crisis, highlighting how individual borrowers can accumulate debt that exceeds the cost of a house and how such debt devastates credit scores. They note recent legal shifts that may return medical debt to credit reports across the three major bureaus, with the issue potentially reaching the Supreme Court. The dialogue explains that filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy can wipe out large medical balances—up to $100,000—because medical debt is classified as non‑consumer debt, allowing borrowers to bypass the means‑test that would otherwise force a Chapter 13 repayment plan. The speakers describe the process as taking only three to four months. The conversation then turns to hospital and insurance billing practices, with one speaker describing astronomical copays, high monthly premiums, and a personal decision to stop paying and let the debt be reported to credit agencies. Throughout, the speakers convey frustration with what they view as a systemic “scamming operation” in healthcare billing.
What is going to happen? I mean, people are in serious medical debt. It's even more expensive than buying a house.
Yeah, I just met with somebody. They have over $100,000 worth of medical debt and it's going to ruin their credit. So we're going to end up filing bankruptcy to get ahead of it. But I feel like every day there's a new ruling. Something was stricken, something changed. And this is going back to the old way where medical debt will be on your credit report. There's 3 bureaus, so it usually doesn't show up on all 3. It'll only show up on one depending what hospital or what provider. But the medical debt, which is billions of dollars worth of debt, is going to be back on credit reports soon. And this is likely going to go to the Supreme Court just like everything else has recently.
So let me ask you a question. So like, if I were to file a Chapter 7, $100,000 in medical debt, I can get all of that wiped away?
All of it wiped away. And the good thing about medical debt as well, and some bankruptcy practitioners don't even know this, is you can be exempt from the means test, which forces some individuals that make a certain amount of income into Chapter 13 repayment if your debt is non-consumer debt. And medical debt is considered non-consumer, so you can be exempt from the means test, file that Chapter 7, be debt-free in about 3 to 4 months.
Just like that.
Just like that.
What are hospitals saying about this? Like, I would be as a— I don't know, as someone that owns a private practice and insurance companies, I mean, they are the— listen, my opinion, not yours. One of the biggest scamming operations I've ever seen in my life. I pay right now $1,500 a month for 4 of us, 2 kids, husband, and, you know, myself. And we still have an astronomical copay. We also have bills. And I just let those bills— and I'll be honest with you, I'm the average American. I just— I'm like, listen, I've already paid y'all enough. I'm not paying no more. Send it to my credit report. I don't care.
It's one of the craziest systems. And I'm glad that the MDNows of the world are out here now, where you go in and there's a menu of prices so that you know If I get this, it costs that. When you go to the hospital, you have no idea what it could end up being, hundreds of thousands of dollars for a 2 or 3 day stay because you don't necessarily know what they're doing, what tests are running. You just need whatever help that you can get. So I think it's, you know, America is known for bankruptcy because of medical debt. I wish there was a better system. This is a system that we're stuck with.
