Terry Belk, a resident of North Carolina, has been battling medical debt for over a decade after his wife's cancer treatment and his own prostate cancer diagnosis. Despite having health insurance, the mounting bills led to agreements with Atrium Health that have left him struggling to keep up.
In North Carolina , a state hard hit by the national crisis of medical debt , Terry Belk has spent 20 years struggling to get free of"this ... anvil I'm dragging around."In 2012, Terry Belk’s beloved wife, Sandra, died after a yearslong battle with breast cancer. The car salesman in Charlotte, North Carolina , had quit work to take care of his wife, and the bills for her treatment were more than he could pay, even with health insurance.
Terry Belk's home in Charlotte, N.C. In 2021, three of the top 10 U.S. counties with residents holding medical debt were in North Carolina.Asked about Belk’s situation, a spokesman for Atrium Health said it has used litigation against patients “as a last resort.” Belk signed both the deed of trust and the other judgment voluntarily, the spokesman said, “and presumably on the advice of his attorney.
Former teacher Darcy Guill got a $4,000 bill for emergency surgery. She said she's paying about $123 a month to chip away at the debt. Adding to the burden are North Carolina laws allowing hospitals to sue patients for medical debts with legal judgments lasting up to 20 years. In addition, those judgments can carry 8% interest rates and can automatically act as liens against patients’ homes.
“Part of what we’re seeing is a real court failure where inaccurate bills are automatically compounding themselves and wreaking financial havoc on patients,” said Barak Richman, visiting professor of law at George Washington University Law School and a researcher on the study., a professor at Duke Law and one of the study’s researchers. “A lot of these people were eligible for charity care and didn’t get it,” she said. In mid-August, North Carolina Gov.
Medical Debt Cancer Healthcare Costs North Carolina Atrium Health
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