Laid-Off Workers Stuck With Mega-Medical Bills

As firms collapse and abruptly cut off insurance, some laid-off workers face staggering medical bills without any clear way to pay for them, the Wall Street Journal reports. In many cases, workers rush to take care of medical needs upon hearing their employers are going under, only to find those expenses not covered—one woman induced labor the day her company announced it was closing, only to find herself saddled with the $20,000 bill.

The Journal tells of workers who had operations months ago but now can’t pay bills that have finally been processed; others are cutting dosages in half. Soaring liquidations are bad news for laid-off employees who might have retained their coverage had the company turned to traditional bankruptcy reorganization. “The government is bailing out banks, but who's going to bail out little companies and help us?” asked one woman.
(More financial crisis stories.)