Readers may remember the controversial 2015 shooting of Walter Scott, a 50-year-old black man, in South Carolina. A policeman was convicted for murder in the case, after a video surfaced showing him shooting Scott from behind. But few people ask: “Why was Walter Scott running away?” The sad explanation: child support. Scott had been repeatedly sent…
2023 was overall a good year for student debtors, even with some legislative reversals. However, borrowers are still receiving phone calls, emails, letters, and/or texts offering them relief from their federal student loans, or warning them that student loan forgiveness programs would end soon. Usually, the so-called student loan debt relief companies offering these types of services…
If you are concerned about medical debt, you have to start with the hospitals. Of the six million Americans who owe more than $5,000 in medical debt, 72 percent attribute their debt to bills from acute care, such as a single hospital stay or treatment for an accident. There is a movement to limit medical…
A Kaiser Foundation survey on 9-29-23 makes it clear– we are seeing a large increase in insurance claim denials. When insurance companies deny claims, patients eventually pay the price. These bills can easily turn into medical debt, with troubling consequences; people take steps that put their health at further risk. 1 in 7 people with medical…
A non-profit firm called Upsolve enables many bankruptcy filers to pay nothing in legal fees. Here’s the background: Chapter 7 bankruptcy attorneys usually require their clients to pay in full before filing the case. You cannot blame them…if a lawyer does not collect their fees up front, their bill could later be discharged along with…
Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich, and Joe McCarthy-style conservatives constantly complain that “Democrats would impose European-Style Socialism on America.” And how bad would that be? Will Americans be hopelessly corrupted by national health insurance, mandatory vacations, paid maternity leave, rent subsidies, or larger child allowances? After all, Australia hasn’t been destroyed yet – despite having gun…
Small claims courts have been a fixture throughout America for over seventy years. In the state of New York, for example, there are Small Claims Courts in each of the 62 counties — including at least one in each of the five boroughs of New York City. Most other states have similar coverage. In small…
The most frequent settings for medical credit cards have been dentist’s offices, cosmetic surgery, veterinarians, hearing services, vision services and primary care. However, the cards are increasingly offered to cover surgeries and emergency services provided at hospitals and doctors’ offices. (Some of the newer lenders are owned by private equity, which to me is automatically…
Readers of this blog are aware that I am a strong advocate of health care reform. However, I am very cautious about a total overhaul of our system. I have a low tolerance for bad math and empty promises – which both appear all too often in the promotion of Single Payer. Here are some…
The Debt Collective first formed in 2012 as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Early members wrote the Debt Resisters’ Operations Manual , and launched the Rolling Jubilee, a mechanism for purchasing portfolios of people’s debt on secondary debt markets — and cancelling it. In 2015, the Collective organized the nation’s first student debt strike, against…