My husband was served at work today (embarrassing 
) with a civil warrant. I was in the hospital a while back and they are taking us to court for the bill. We are several thousand dollars *below* the federal poverty guidelines, we live paycheck to paycheck (and that is actually an understatement). It isn't like we are sitting pretty and just refusing to pay our bills. But food, mortgage, lights and gas money come first.
Unfortunately, if I went back to work we would be making even *less* than we make now with the added expenses of daycare and gas and the loss of food stamps/WIC and insurance - it's a HUGE catch 22. We will soon have three children and daycare alone would probably eat up most of what I would make (if not all or more). Even working opposite shifts wouldn't help because I would only be making minimum wage and by the time our benefits were cut, we would still come out as a loss.
We live in a very rural area, but on free land because it belongs to my mom with a very inexpensive mortage payment on a single wide mobile home. So moving isn't feasable. If we moved we would have to come up with either rent for somewhere else (which would be higher than our mortagage payment on the trailer, because the mortgage is only $345. a month and you cannot rent for that) or we would have to come up with several thousand dollars to *move* the trailer closer to town and then pay lot rent for land to put the trailer on. But living where we do, gas to anywhere eats us alive.
Both of our vehicles are old and paid for so we can't cut back there. I am the queen of frugal, trust me. It's just that things cost money and they keep costing more each day. DH hasn't gotten a raise in two years (due to the economy they say) yet, for our town, he is supposidly making "good" money so it isn't like he could get a better job elsewhere. We use family cloth, cloth diapers, cloth napkins, vinegar and baking soda to clean. I stay home most every single day so that we don't have to use gas. I run a *tight* ship. It isn't that we blow the money, it is just that the money isn't there.
So anyway, I have read that when it comes to medical bills, if you are paying at least *something* they cannot touch you. Is this true or is this an urban legend? If this is the case, they will get a dollar a week (yes I am very upset right now, please bear with me). If this isn't true then I'm not sure what we are going to do.
) with a civil warrant. I was in the hospital a while back and they are taking us to court for the bill. We are several thousand dollars *below* the federal poverty guidelines, we live paycheck to paycheck (and that is actually an understatement). It isn't like we are sitting pretty and just refusing to pay our bills. But food, mortgage, lights and gas money come first.Unfortunately, if I went back to work we would be making even *less* than we make now with the added expenses of daycare and gas and the loss of food stamps/WIC and insurance - it's a HUGE catch 22. We will soon have three children and daycare alone would probably eat up most of what I would make (if not all or more). Even working opposite shifts wouldn't help because I would only be making minimum wage and by the time our benefits were cut, we would still come out as a loss.
We live in a very rural area, but on free land because it belongs to my mom with a very inexpensive mortage payment on a single wide mobile home. So moving isn't feasable. If we moved we would have to come up with either rent for somewhere else (which would be higher than our mortagage payment on the trailer, because the mortgage is only $345. a month and you cannot rent for that) or we would have to come up with several thousand dollars to *move* the trailer closer to town and then pay lot rent for land to put the trailer on. But living where we do, gas to anywhere eats us alive.
Both of our vehicles are old and paid for so we can't cut back there. I am the queen of frugal, trust me. It's just that things cost money and they keep costing more each day. DH hasn't gotten a raise in two years (due to the economy they say) yet, for our town, he is supposidly making "good" money so it isn't like he could get a better job elsewhere. We use family cloth, cloth diapers, cloth napkins, vinegar and baking soda to clean. I stay home most every single day so that we don't have to use gas. I run a *tight* ship. It isn't that we blow the money, it is just that the money isn't there.
So anyway, I have read that when it comes to medical bills, if you are paying at least *something* they cannot touch you. Is this true or is this an urban legend? If this is the case, they will get a dollar a week (yes I am very upset right now, please bear with me). If this isn't true then I'm not sure what we are going to do.
s
: However the hospital that I was transferred to to have my daughter has continued to work with me for the past almost 3 years now, I send what I can when I can and they have not sent me to collections. That hospital is a catholic one whereas the other one is just a corporate type hospital. So I suspect it really just depends on the hospital or doctor. In my case what is most annoying is that the hospital that was willing to work with me, we owe about 4K to which if they sent me to collections/ an or sued me I would understand. However sending someone to collections for a $300 bill seems crazy to me.
I'm going to call the lawyer's office today and see what they say.
