This was sad to read.
The system is broken and I am not knowledgeable in this to know what should be done, so I will ask for opinions.

I just saw this on LinkedIn. This is from 2018 as shown below but posted today.

Why wouid she have to pay his medical bills if he died?

Thanks Obama.

Wait a second! I thought Obamacare was going to solve everything! That's why we surrender our healthcare to the federal government.

I'd also caution Becky Lynn against publishing stuff like this. The court system does not favor this stuff and her parents' attorneys could face problems.

I am not even mad...I am impressed.

Good for them!

This is not real. Come on

Probably not real, but who cares what the government thinks. Get them out of marriage. All that matters is that you are married before the eyes of the lord.

Fake. That kind of post should not be on LinkedIn.

This is so stupid. I assume that beckylynnpaige88 doesn't realize is that now she, in fact, will inherit the debt since her mom won't.



Of course this isn't real.

El Gallo Blanco said:

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Probably not real, but who cares what the government thinks. Get them out of marriage. All that matters is that you are married before the eyes of the lord.

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I mean she has three first names as her name... that should be a sign that reposting the social media might not the best idea or from an accurate source

Time to quit posting information contained in forwarded emails on TexAgs

Im Gipper said:

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Why wouid she have to pay his medical bills if he died?

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Ya, the taxpayer and other insurance holders are supposed to foot the bill

Nobody is going to inherit the debt. I am assuming IF this was real, they divorced and put everything in moms name so he has no estate to speak of for the debt collectors to come after. Medicaid has a lookback period which would be an issue, and they frown on people trying to pull this. IF this was real the last thing you would want to do is announce it publicly.

This is dumb. It's completely unnecessary. My Dad had the exact same issue from my Mom's cancer bills. Several hundred grand that he couldn't pay. The solution? Don't pay. Those bills can come out of the estate at passing, but first taxes get pulled. Any money left over after that can be used to pay medical bills. If nothing is left, they disappear. These bills don't get inherited.

The other thing you can do is negotiate the bill. I had some like this and we simply called each entity and said we have X dollars to spend between them and everyone else. Reduce the bill or get nothing. EVERY SINGLE BILL was reduced 90%.

LOL. Divorce.....wow. What a waste of effort. At the end of the day, they can't refuse service and you can get blood from a turnip. Tell the providers to pound sand.

tysker said:

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Im Gipper said:

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Why wouid she have to pay his medical bills if he died?

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Ya, the taxpayer and other insurance holders are supposed to foot the bill

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You didn't answer the question.

Care to try again?

chap said:

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This is so stupid. I assume that beckylynnpaige88 doesn't realize is that now she, in fact, will inherit the debt since her mom won't.



Of course this isn't real.

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If my name isn't on any paperwork, they can send every bill they want, but they will all go straight to the trash.

chap said:

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This is so stupid. I assume that beckylynnpaige88 doesn't realize is that now she, in fact, will inherit the debt since her mom won't.



Of course this isn't real.

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You don't inherit debt

Do nurses and doctors work for free? Do hospitals not pay electric bills? I understand health insurance is evil and a ponzi scheme, but also Healthcare is not free.

Emotional Support Cobra said:

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Do nurses and doctors work for free? Do hospitals not pay electric bills? I understand health insurance is evil and a ponzi scheme, but also Healthcare is not free.

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What does that have to do with the divorce not changing who owes the money?

Emotional Support Cobra said:

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Do nurses and doctors work for free? Do hospitals not pay electric bills? I understand health insurance is evil and a ponzi scheme, but also Healthcare is not free.

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Oh gosh.

Yes, theyre all struggling to make ends meet and there's no money being made

Im Gipper said:

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tysker said:

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Im Gipper said:

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Why wouid she have to pay his medical bills if he died?

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Ya, the taxpayer and other insurance holders are supposed to foot the bill

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You didn't answer the question.

Care to try again?

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How about the bill goes into bad debt and eventually written off. To offset this known risk, taxpayers and current premium payers pay higher prices to insurance companies and service providers.

tysker said:

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Im Gipper said:

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Why wouid she have to pay his medical bills if he died?

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Ya, the taxpayer and other insurance holders are supposed to foot the bill

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We do foot the bill for it. Just not through taxes. Yet.

How does someone owe this with Medicare and the supplement? How much does Medicare pay? It must be significantly worse than my health insurance to run up that kind of debt.

It started a conversation.#Liberals

Im Gipper said:

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Why wouid she have to pay his medical bills if he died?

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Duty of care for spouse.

Tom Fox said:

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How does someone owe this with Medicare and the supplement? How much does Medicare pay? It must be significantly worse than my health insurance to run up that kind of debt.

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This. If you've been married for 52 years then you're probably in your late 60s or older. So you have Medicare. So this debt doesn't make sense to me. Unless it's for some sort of uncovered or unusual treatment.

Tex100 said:

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Im Gipper said:

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Why wouid she have to pay his medical bills if he died?

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Duty of care for spouse.

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What?

BBRex said:

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tysker said:

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Im Gipper said:

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Why wouid she have to pay his medical bills if he died?

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Ya, the taxpayer and other insurance holders are supposed to foot the bill

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We do foot the bill for it. Just not through taxes. Yet.

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I foot the bill for it through the mandated insurance program I pay into (aka Obamacare), of which I use a small fraction of the prepaid goods and services. A large portion of our taxes goes to Medicare (about $850 billion in 2024) and Medicaid (about $620 billion in 2024). If you're a high-earner, young, and/or healthy, you're carrying the costs for the old and sick.

infinity ag said:

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This was sad to read.
The system is broken and I am not knowledgeable in this to know what should be done, so I will ask for opinions.

I just saw this on LinkedIn. This is from 2018 as shown below but posted today.

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My opinion: How did you think it was real? Also, If you really got sad from reading that you might need some help.

OP fell for Nigerian Prince emails back in the day.

Im Gipper said:

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Tex100 said:

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Im Gipper said:

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Why wouid she have to pay his medical bills if he died?

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Duty of care for spouse.

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What?

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https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/family-code/fam-sect-2-501/

https://law.baylor.edu/sites/g/files/ecbvkj1546/files/2023-11/Mutual%20Duty%20of%20Support%20Advanced%20Elder%20Law%20Course%20Houston%20TX%20April%202013.pdf

Tex100 said:

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Im Gipper said:

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Tex100 said:

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Im Gipper said:

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Why wouid she have to pay his medical bills if he died?

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Duty of care for spouse.

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What?

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https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/family-code/fam-sect-2-501/

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Wait, do you think that means a widow is required to pay medical expenses of the deceased?


Don't quit your day job!

This is an old propaganda post that shows up every 6 months or so when democrats/single payer healthcare advocates want to get people angry at insurance companies.

It largely isn't true. Even if you live in a community property state where medical debt can pass to the spouse, the medical debt can be discharged after the spouse demonstrates they cannot pay it or the spouse can discharge/restructure it through bankruptcy. They almost certainly won't lose their house, at worst they would get a lien placed on it.

And divorce wouldn't save them. There's a lookback period and they will get hammered for trying this. And if somehow they're outside the lookback window but still living together, common law marriage laws will get em. There are other, better ways to protect assets.

Edit: I forgot homesteads are exempt from creditors in Texas. They wouldn't lose the house.