hedwards: No, but if she couldn't afford to pay them, that's what charity care is for. I'm not sure why she's passing the hat around for bills that should have been negotiated down or written off by the hospital.
misteryo: All I meant to accomplish with my post is to point out that the costs she states are plausible. That's the first thing to think through when approached in this way. You seemed to think that the bills weren't plausible. I was offering my two cents.
More info: if you have zero insurance, hospitals will negotiate reduced bills, payment plans, discounts for cash, etc. However, if you do have insurance, the hospitals can and do refuse any additional negotiation, since they've already negotiated bills down with the insurance company. And, like I said above, a very common scenario after insurance is for an individual to be left with $3000/yr deductible plus 20% of any bills above that. That can add up.
You mention charity and bankruptcy. Fair enough.
Charity: I'll point out that a public appeal over a donation site is one avenue for seeking charity in such situations. There are many charities out there. None of them is guarenteed to help you for the full amount you need, or even to help you at all. People in need often pursue multiple avenues simultaneously. And I've never met anyone who came out ahead by doing it that way. The best I've ever seen is charity, both institutional and personal bringing costs down under control.
Bankruptcy: The laws covering this change sometimes yearly. But it is not now the free pass people think it is. You correctly point out that it screws your credit. It may also not actually absolve you of the medical debts. It is complicated and risky enough to not be entered upon lightly. And $24,000 is not enough to warrant it.
All that being said: of course, you are under no obligation to help. It's an appeal. By my estimation it is on the up and up, even if not every question is addressed in the appeal, even if the style of appeal is not to your liking.
I don't judge you for not wanting to give. But I think some of your concerns are misplaced in this case. It seems to me that the appeal is aimed at gamers, because her video game voice work is so well-loved. If you ever do find yourself in a spot where you feel like making a public appeal to strangers is in your best interest, you would of course be well advised to find an angle that will help potential givers make a connection with you.
tl;dr I think your concerns are good in general but misplaced in this particular case. You are of course under no obligation to give. Cheers.
$24k is more than many people make in an entire year. It routinely takes people 5 years to pay off that kind of debt, assuming they have stable employment that provides for funds beyond what they need for the basic necessities. Especially people who have serious medical problems.
I have serious issues with people seeking money for health care through public donations, we just don't ever have the kind of information necessary to make those decisions, whereas the hospital and the doctors typically do.
As for the information about policies, yes, that's possible, but anybody with that many health care problems should be getting a policy that has a higher premium and lower deductible with a better out of pocket limit. Even the catastrophic insurance policy I had a couple years back put an out of pocket limit of $7500 on coverage after which the insurer picked up 100% up to the cap on benefits. So, racking up over $24k in debt is rather challenging to do unless there's something more to the story. Uninsured people can do that, but that would be nearly a week in the ICU or some fairly major surgery, and cases like that would likely be eligible for charity care when deemed necessary.
If folks want to donate that's their prerogative, but I think there's adequate reason to be asking for more information before writing a check.
