14013270:Jems said:
It says they’re drowning in debt from medical bills
i thought work places payed for your healthcare but I’m too young to know this
Depends. Only for full time employees does that Affordable Healthcare Act provision apply to requiring employers to provide coverage, however I'm not sure if that mandate was removed or not by this current administration. Even then, most workplace insurance policies are shit. For example, mine has a $2000 deductible and a $4500 out of pocket max. I've hit my deductible the past two years. Thankfully I have an HSA and contribute the max to it, otherwise I'd be broke af.
As far as hospital bills, that's sort of a gray area. Obviously they can't refuse to treat someone, nor will they kick them out. I'm sure their hospital bills are gonna be insane, but hopefully they have insurance of some sort. Once you reach your out of pocket max, the insurance company pays 100% of any further costs for that year. If they were low income resort workers, then I'd like to assume they were prudent enough to sign up for medicaid but it doesn't appear so.
If they don't have insurance, they can work with the hospital to negotiate their bill lower. You may not know this but a good amount of people don't pay their medical bills, specifically the poor. Hospitals account for this expectation in their budgets. Worst case scenario, after they're discharged, if they don't pay their medical bills, they get sent to collections. Medical bills are nice in the fact that some collections agencies don't report them to your credit report and aren't able to readily garnish wages without a lot of effort.
If additional rehab is necessary after their discharge, then they may have trouble getting it without insurance. They may be limited in their options of treatment providers.
I'm not saying they do or don't have health insurance but if they don't, then this is a prime example of why everyone should. Being healthy doesn't preclude you from getting in tragic accidents like this one.
The same goes for renters insurance. Most landlords require it. Pay the extra few dollars a month for the higher coverage amounts so that if your apartment is destroyed, you will be able to cover the cost of the apartment and be able to replace all your belongings inside.
Sad story and good luck to them.
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