You potentially have a lot of options if you are in a chapter 13 bankruptcy and have incurred post-petition medical expenses. First of all, you should notify the hospital that you are in a chapter 13 bankruptcy; while your medical debt appears to be post-petition and they can collect on it, it still may cause them to delay while they try to figure out what their rights are. Second of all, you should speak with your bankruptcy attorney. If your bankruptcy case is currently scheduled to take less than the 5 year maximum permitted, you could possibly see if you can defer your payments on the chapter 13 for a couple of months in order to pay the medical bills and get the hospital off of your back. Alternatively, depending on where you live, it is sometimes possible to add the hospital into your chapter 13 plan if the hospital is willing to do so (if they aren't, you probably wouldn't be able to). Some states permit this and some do not. Discuss this with your attorney, as you may have other options depending on your individual circumstances.
Answered on Aug 27th, 2012 at 1:39 PM