Reverse Mortgages and Medical Debt

Medical debt is a huge contributor to many people filing for bankruptcy in the U.S. No one plans to get into an accident or have a serious illness, but those things happen everyday, catching people by surprise.

In some cases, people who’ve been struck by illness end up with many thousands of dollars in medical debt. Some seniors facing huge medical bills have turned to reverse mortgages to supplement their incomes and avoid bankruptcy.

Illness Can Happen Anytime

Even if you’ve had pretty good health most of your life, it’s tough to predict whether you may eventually experience a major illness. Medical debt affects people who are uninsured, insured, young, and old. About 41% of working adults had trouble paying medical bills in 2007, according to a Families USA report. Also, 62% of bankruptcies are linked to medical reasons.

Reverse Home Mortgage Can Give You Cash

Getting a reverse loan is not the only solution to paying off medical debt. Some health care providers offer sliding scale fees, debt settlement, free care, or low payment plans to help patients with bills. But when you are overwhelmed by debt and see no other options, a reverse mortgage could help you get the cash you need to pay medical costs.

Keep in mind that if you have a serious illness that requires lengthy hospital stays, you could be looking at very large medical bills over time. So it’s important to anticipate whether the amount you can borrow with a reverse mortgage is adequate for your needs. keep in mind also that if you leave your home for a long-term stay in a nursing facility or rehab center, your lender may call in the loan–review all documents thoroughly before committing.

Investigate Reverse Mortgage Guidelines

Talk with a housing counselor to discuss reverse mortgage pros and cons. Counseling can help determine how much money you qualify to receive from a reverse loan based upon your age and current home value. A reverse mortgage counselor can also discuss any other options for paying bills that may have been overlooked.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Reverse Mortgage . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.