Zombie Debt

There are many different ways to discuss and label debt- student, credit, medical, etc... One form of debt that isn't talked about much is Zombie debt. I ended up spending a few hours on the phone today between hospitals and insurances and have found myself the new and proud owner of medical debt... from 2015. So two months ago it didn't exist... and now it does. It certainly messes with your budget to have to reconfigure how you spend money based on information that you couldn't have had when you made it. Learning that more of these unknown expenses are probably headed my way as my health insurance *still* hasn't paid on these bills for the last two years doesn't really feel great. And while I thought about it and what choices I need to make, I thought about the term 'zombie debt' and how I originally had heard it. So here is a clip to the show "Last Week Tonight" discussing medical debt and debt buying organizations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxUAntt1z2c

Paying off my 'new' medical debt won't be fun, but it could certainly be worse. I could have the experience of many of the people mentioned in this episode. I guess it might be a valuable thing for everyone to remember- even if you have insurance and they should pay the bill.... if they don't, you are still on the hook. There are no exceptions. Medical debt also is treated as bad debt by credit reporting companies even though people can not help becoming sick in the vast majority of cases. I wish I had fewer health problems and I confess... even though I have insurance now (and had at the time of my 'new' debt) my gut reaction is to stop going to the doctor because I have no idea if in two years I will have to pay for the visit, procedure, etc... I dearly hope for single payer/ universal healthcare for the next generation. It is needed for so many reasons.

Sigh... maybe someday.