In this eye-opening episode, host Jeff Kelly dives into the crucial importance of having health insurance to protect your financial future. Through compelling real-life examples, he illustrates how a single medical emergency can potentially wipe out years of hard work and savings if you're uninsured. Kelly offers practical advice on navigating options like employer-provided insurance, the healthcare.gov marketplace, and more. An essential listen for anyone wanting to safeguard their hard-earned assets against catastrophic medical bills and avoid bankruptcy.

Welcome to the Bankruptcy Podcast, a podcast about untangling the complex world of bankruptcy in Georgia. Each week, we deliver the best insights and practical advice on how to navigate the legal waters of bankruptcy with expert guidance and real life stories. Now here's your host, Jeff Kelly.

Jeff Kelly: Hello, this is Jeff Kelley, and in this video today, I want to talk about health insurance. And this comes up in a lot of situations for people who need to file bankruptcy. So let me describe something to you. I know a lot of people will go and work these jobs where the employer offers no health insurance at all.

And the only thing that's going to keep you out of bankruptcy is bankruptcy. You have good health insurance. Now, it doesn't have to be perfect, but you've got to have something that's going to protect you from a catastrophe. I'll tell you two stories. One where it worked out and one where it's not going to work out.

I had a good friend of mine who was a teacher and he started a health, I'm sorry, he started a construction business and he quit teaching and he's making a lot of money doing his construction business and he went for years not paying any health insurance at all. We were all just a bunch of suckers, right?

And fortunately for him, it happened when he was young enough where he could work off the debt. He did not have to file bankruptcy. He did go get health insurance. And today he's, protected. It. Now, I want to tell you another story. I met with a guy who's got a house. His house is in the, you know, 250, 000 range.

I hope not, but You're setting yourself up for a disaster. So in his case, unfortunately for him, he had a heart attack and as you know, heart attacks can be a hundred thousand, 200, 000, 300, 000, regardless, he doesn't have that kind of money to pay it, but he does have a house with a lot of equity. And in the state of Georgia.

A single person can only exempt 21, 500. What's he going to do? I don't know. I can't help him because there's no way he's going, you know, in a chapter 13 you're, limited to five years. So if you're going to pay all the debt back, which is the only way to protect a house that has tons and tons of equity that's exposed he could never afford that kind of payment.

So that's an option. Chapter seven, not an option. No way. It's got way too much equity. Chapter 13 is not an option and then, you know, the final option, which we really hate is he could just sell the house, sell the house, cash it out, pay off the debt and, you know, start over, rent a place somewhere else.

Somewhere else where it is offered, but you know, usually end up taking a pretty good pay cut to do that because employers have to pay through the nose for health insurance. I know because I got to pay it for my employees.

Narrator: Like what you hear so far, make sure you never miss a show by clicking the subscribe button. Now, this podcast is made possible by listeners like you. Thank you for your support. If you're intrigued by the world of bankruptcy and want a comprehensive guide to help you get out of debt, head on over to kelly can help.

com slash welcome and subscribe to our email list to have a guide to bankruptcy in Georgia, helping people get out of debt delivered right to your inbox. Now back to the show.

You can go to healthcare. gov and yes, you're going to have to fill out a bunch of emails, yes, you're going to have to submit a bunch of documents, but you can get health insurance and you absolutely. Should must, must, let me change it, you absolutely must get health insurance to protect your economic future because you don't know what's happening, even if you have insurance that covers hardly anything when you go in for your regular checkup or your prescriptions or anything like that, as long as it covers you, For the catastrophes, that is what's important.

It is so worth it because I see it on, you know, at least a weekly basis of people who are doing perfectly fine and out of nowhere, something happened and they didn't have good coverage. Go to healthcare. gov. I know it's not fun. I know it's not exciting. And if you're one of those people that says, I just can't deal with the technology, listen, you're related to somebody who can.

Call a nephew, call a niece, call a nephew, call a cousin, call somebody. Somebody can help you get health insurance. Make sure you get covered. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you want any information about chapter 13 or chapter seven, I've got a free book on my website. You can go to, Kelly can help.com.

Another option is you could go to my podcast website, kelly bankruptcy.com, and we also have a YouTube channel. Kelly can help with a lot of free information, so educate yourself and stay healthy. Thank you so much. Have a good one.

If you liked this show, you might want to check out our guide to bankruptcy in Georgia. Helping people get out of debt. Available at kellycanhelp. com slash welcome. Be sure to tune in next week for our next episode.