Make pro-bono medical care tax deductible for physicians and other providers and these problems will decline.
Also, get rid of the middlemen (the insurers). See the Surgery Center of Oklahoma.
If you read the story it is not that they are jailed for the unpaid bills but for skipping 2 court hearings about the bills. If they had followed the procedures and appeared as ordered they would not have been jailed. This is an example of sensationalizing headlines to present the networks (CBS) agenda.
I agree that we need to do something to reduce medical costs. (I just paid out $200.00 at C.V.S. Saturday and $80.00 in Co-Pays to be seen.) It affects everyone and I Do not have the answers. But this headline was misleading to say the least.
No, that’s a total BS article.
The guy didn’t go to jail for not paying his medical bills.
He went to jail to ignoring a subpoena to appear in court regarding unpaid medical bills.
“Debt” that has been grossly overstated, no doubt
Most of the time you can both negotiate a lower fee and a very flexible payment schedule. My uncle refused to buy health insurance, suffered a heart attack at age 58. Bill was over $200,000...he got the bill down to around $100,000 and worked out an interest free payment schedule of a 200 a month and the hospital was happy. I don’t buy these BS stories.
Absolutely misleading headline...
He went to jail for failure to appear before the court....
Doesn’t matter what the case is about, this is a real possibility for any case against you.
He missed 2 appearances to plead poverty.
Hospitas have generous income based charity care.
They'll set up a payment plan based on your income even if it's $1 a month.
Why aren't the kids on CHIPS?
More specifically, the states need to put a stop to unconstitutional 16th Amendment taxes, taxes that corrupt Congress cannot justify under its constitutional Article I, Section 8-limited powers, such powers not including taxing and spending for INTRAstate healthcare purposes.
"Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States." —Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
"State inspection laws, health laws, and laws for regulating the internal commerce of a State, and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c. are not within the power granted to Congress [emphases added].” —Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
"Inspection laws, quarantine laws, health laws of every description [emphasis added], as well as laws for regulating the internal commerce of a state and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c., are component parts of this mass.” —Justice Barbour, New York v. Miln., 1837.
"Obviously, direct control of medical practice [emphases added] in the states is beyond the power of the federal government.” —Linder v. United States, 1925.
”From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added].” —United States v. Butler, 1936.
Citizens need to elect new patriot state and federal lawmakers that will promise to support PDJT in stopping the feds from stealing state revenues and citizen’s wallets with unconstitutional federal taxes. Citizens would then probably find the extra money to pay their healthcare expenses imo.
Remember in November!
MAGA! Now KAGA! (Keep America Great Always!)
"The “Holy Grail” of organized crime is to control government power to tax." —me
"The power to tax involves the power to destroy, […]” —Chief Justice John Marshall, McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819.
"The 16th Amendment effectively repealed the involuntary servitude aspect of the 13th Amendment imo, evidenced by unconstitutional federal taxes." —me
"Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States." —Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
"13th Amendment, Section 1:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude [emphasis added], except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
"16th Amendment:
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."
"The ill-conceived 17th Amendment not only effectively politically repealed the 3/4 state supermajority requirement of the Constitution’s Article V for ratification of proposed amendments to the Constitution imo, politically correct interpretations of the Constitution now prevailing under Democratic judicial tyranny, but also consider this. That amendment also effectively nullified Congress’s constitutional Article I, Section 8-limited powers along with the Supreme Court’s clarification of Congress’s limited power to appropriate taxes." —me
"Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States.” —Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
"The constitutionally undefined political parties are basically rival, corrupt voter unions, “union dues” paid by means of unconstitutional federal taxes. Belonging to a political party means that you are a subject, not a member.” —me
"Patriots need to support PDJT in demanding that Congress moves "April 15" tax day to the day before election day." —me
"The smart crooks long ago figured out that getting themselves elected to federal office to make unconstitutional tax laws to fill their pockets is a much easier way to make a living than robbing banks." —me
"Federal career lawmakers probably laugh all the way to the bank to deposit bribes for putting loopholes for the rich and corporations in tax appropriations laws, Congress actually not having the express constitutional authority to make most appropriations laws where domestic policy is concerned. Such laws are based on stolen state powers and uniquely associated stolen state revenues." —me
Anyone who thinks these tactics are ok... is a sociopath/psychopath.
Too poor to afford private health insurance and too rich to afford Medicaid.
Which puts a lot of middle class families in a bind. Hence these cases.
Of course the headline has it wrong: They’re going to jail for contempt for disobeying an order to appear in court.
That said, ordering a debtor to appear in court every other month to swear he is too poor to pay the debt seems pretty bizarre, and I’ve never heard about anything like this in any other jurisdiction. Like pretty much every news article discussing legal issues, this article is so thin on details it is impossible to figure out exactly what is being described. Have they just been sued on the debt or is there already a judgment against them? Is there some statute or rule in Kansas authorizing these “debt collection days”? If they’re insolvent, why don’t any of these debtors file for bankruptcy? Or, if they have non-exempt assets that they wouldn’t want to lose in bankruptcy, why don’t the creditors simply have the sheriff levy on those assets like any other judgment creditor?
Conducting a brief search of Kansas law, I can’t find anything in Kansas law that authorizes something like this. The only reference I can find to an oath of poverty is the same sort of “pauper’s oath” most states allow a plaintiff to file in lieu of paying filing fees. The only scenario I can think of where that would come into play is that the creditor sued the debtors in small claims court and won, and then the debtors filed an appeal to the district court and a “pauper’s oath” affidavit to avoid paying the filing fee, and the judge is ordering them in every month to re-affirm that oath for some reason. But if that’s the case, why wouldn’t the judge just dismiss the appeal rather than hold them in contempt? And what kind of trial judge has enough time on his hands to hold a “debt collection” cattle call docket every month?
If there’s someone knowledgeable about Kansas law who can explain this, I’d be interested.
Are there no prisons? Are there no poor houses? Charles Dickens—Unrelated to “Little Jimmy”.
If you like your prison, you can keep your prison.
Propublica is a left wing organization. I expect that much has been left out of this story, despite my agreement that medical costs are out of control.