Non-American Citizen t6 paraplegic need help paying bills. are they any programs that can help him?

[geol19]

i have a friend that has a T6 spinal cord injury and is a paraplegic. he came to America on a medical visa for rehabilitation. he was injured on his job in Japan and now only receives $600 a month for his disability. He visited the hospital here in america &now has several bills that he can not afford to pay. He had to return to Japan because of money issues. my question is: is there any programs that can possibly help him pay for his medical bills. im just a friend trying to help him out.

[fionnbharr]

You're probably looking for a welfare program, a la Medicaid, right?

Well, I know for a fact that there are no programs - regardless of citizenship status - to pay medical bills that have already been accumulated.

However, he DOES have the option of bankruptcy. Medical bills are some of the most common causes of bankruptcy, and I'd imagine that his citizenship status would not foreclose that possibility. It might make the paperwork a bit more complicated, but I can't imagine him not getting to file bankruptcy at all.

EDIT: Also, don't be afraid of bankruptcy. A lot of people make it sound like it's the devil, but that's largely because it IS pure evil... for specifically those people. For the debtor, bankruptcy is a godly program that can relieve (emphasis on that last word) the debtor of the crushing burden of debt. Creditors despise bankruptcy for that reason, and so they'll try to discourage its use, but that's precisely because it's such a powerful tool for debtors.

[jan46]

I believe Japan has quite an extensive medical infrastructure. He should just stay there.