A father Tres Biggs went to jail due to strict debt collection laws in his hometown of Coffeyville, Kansas.
His son Lane Biggs was getting treatment for leukaemia which he was diagnosed when he was just 5 years old.
Unfortunately, Tres’ wife and Lane’s mother Heather developed seizures from Lyme disease at the same time. The family couldn’t afford expenses and it left them with lots of medical debt.
“We had so many multiple health issues in our family at the same time, it put us in a bracket that made insurance unattainable,” Heather told CBS News. “It made no sense. We would’ve had to have not eaten, not had a home.”
Tres was working two jobs in their hometown of Coffeyville, Kansas but it was not enough to pay off $70,000. He was jailed because he missed a court appearance about his overdue bills and was not able to get the money for the $500 bail.
“You wouldn’t think you’d go to jail over a medical bill,” he said. “[It was] scary. I was scared to death, because, you know, I’m a country kid. I had to strip down, get hosed and put a jumpsuit on.”
The attorneys have taken advantage of the increasing medical debts in low-income households.point 360 |
According to PEOPLE, CBS interviewed one lawyer named Michael Hassenplug who pushed the local judge to establish a law that requires ”people with unpaid medical bills even ones as low as $28 — to come to court every three months and say that they are too poor to afford their bills, called a “debtor’s exam.point 265 |
” And if they miss two of those court appearances, an arrest warrant goes out for contempt of court with a $500 bail.point 97 | ”point 104 | 1
Tres said that he only had “maybe $50 to $100” in the bank, not the $500 needed to make bail. “I’m just doing my job,” Hassenplug argued. “They want the money collected, and I’m trying to do my job as best I can by following the law.”
“I get paid on what’s collected. If the bail money’s applied to the judgement, I get a portion of that.”
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