How many of the bankruptcies did you find that included medical charges? I would be curious about that, since some of those bills could wipe you out, especially if you have no insurance.

A lot of the tougher bankruptcy rules are conscious of medical dilemmas, because they are, in part, not controllable. Of course, there are some medical conditions that are (smoking or drinking to excess)... but I totally agree with you Mike, I think the folks who are bankrupt because they have too many flat screen televisions should be taken to task.

Dawn,

Every bk case I've looked at lists at least some medical debts in the petition. I have yet to find one, though, which lists any medical debts that total above $2,000. Most have a smattering of $25 to $200 claims. (If you're going to declare Chap. 7 and get the "fresh start," you might as well list everything, right?)

The problem is that some medical expenses might have been put on credit cards at some time in the past, and now only show up in the $30k+ (or whatever amount) of credit card debt the petitioner lists as a liability.

Every single case I've scanned, save one, has had credit-card debt as the petitioner's largest unsecured debt. Big surprise, huh?

The ability to seek protection in bankruptcy is important, both for entrepreneurs and for others such as true medical bankruptees, people whose identity has been stolen, people who lose a job, etc.

The trick is to weed out the people in your first link, playing the system, or the people who binge and purge in cycles.

But we mustn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Don't you see the irony in large corporatations and their marketing consultants offering large lines of credit to people to people who have no experience in financial management.

Then when the corporations are hurting too much from people declaring bankruptcy because they have offered excessive amounts of credit they lobby the government to change the bankruptcy laws.

I wouldn't call it "ironic;" I'd call it expected. Those corps are in business to make money, not lose it.

This legislation was 10+ years coming. It was just a matter of time before the lenders and lobbyists doled out sufficient $$$ and got the "right" mix in Congress.

Nevertheless, I'm still all for the bk changes.

I don't believe you need to have much "financial experience" to know that purchasing things with credit cards when you don't have the money in hand to pay it off, month after month, is going to create a problem.