Hello everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today for This Needs to be Said. We’re going to be joined by our friend, attorney Bob Doig and he is going to help us to I guess, wrap our mind around it and ask some good questions when it pertains the Affordable Healthcare Act. So many people are able to have healthcare or health insurance because of this, and some people affectionately call it Obamacare, but the correct name is Affordable Healthcare Act. While it is fresh in the news that there are some changes that are going to be made to the Affordable Healthcare Act, there are also some concerns and with medical bills being one of the reasons that people have to file bankruptcy because they have gotten into a financial crisis, I want to talk with attorney Doig today about that and see what his thoughts are. Welcome back, attorney Doig, how are you?

I’m fine, Katherine, how are you?

I am doing wonderful. I’m a little concerned, but I am doing wonderful, because you hear stuff in the news, and it’s soundbites, because we weren’t in the whole conversation of what, why who and all of that, but when I have the opportunity to talk with someone like yourself, I want to know how does that affect the general public and in this case we’re talking about the Affordable Healthcare Act.

You’re talking about the Affordable Care Act, right?

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Also called Obamacare.

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

You know, recently studies have shown that actually that with the passage of the Affordable Care Act a few years ago, it actually drove down the number of personal bankruptcies that were filed. There were numerous articles just last week from Consumer Reports, from Forbes, and from other legitimate news outlets saying, “Hey, there’s a direct correlation between the passage of Obamacare, you know, the Affordable Care Act and the reduction in personal bankruptcies,” so, that’s a good thing. But, I’ll tell you what, now, as we know, our House of Representatives have passed I think it’s the American Healthcare Act, or, I can’t remember what they’re calling it, but, of course you know, from everything I’ve read, I understand the Congressional Budget Office hasn’t completed their study of the impact, but from everything I’ve read, it’s going to kick like 24 million people off of their insurance.

Hey, that’s great for me, because then people are still going to get old, they’re still going to get sick, they’re going to seek medical care, but without the insurance they would have under the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, which is part of that, they’ll be coming into my office. So, this is a wonderful thing, it will make me more money, and wow, isn’t that great.

I’m conflicted ever having this conversation, but there are pros and cons to it, so yes, if that happens, but the good news is while you’re saying that and I feel like you’re saying that tongue in cheek, yes, it will be more business for you, however, help is on the way, so all isn’t lost, no one wants to be in a financial crisis, no one wants to have medical bills that they can’t pay, but they do want to know that there is help. I kind of felt like you were saying that tongue in cheek, but there is help, so I heard you and I was like “But, there’s help, Bob, there’s help, you are help.”

Oh yeah, absolutely right. You know of course the Senate hasn’t taken up the bill yet, so no one really knows what the final outcome will be or even if the Senate will pass anything in response to the House’s bill, so we’ll see what happens. Right now, it’s really too early to say, I think, but from everything I’ve read it’s going to be bad for people who will no longer have health insurance and it will be people like me who file bankruptcies for people when they have overwhelming bills. Frankly, between you and I, Katherine, I’d rather see people be able to pay their medical bills.

You know, I had a young woman come in yesterday, honest to God, and she was working and she had, you know, a healthcare plan, she works for, she worked, I should say, for a big company here in Colorado Springs, and she got sick. As a result of her sickness she ended up in the hospital. She ended up losing her job because she is just not physically able to do it anymore. She was in sales, retail.

Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Retail sales, and she has over $200,000 in medical bill, and she had insurance. She had insurance.

Wow.

I know, so it’s … I’ll tell you what, it’s not a pretty picture.

Definitely a challenge, and there’s things that once we’re sick, there’s really not a whole lot you can do, but to deal with being sick, you know, so we can talk about proactive, and boo, that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about people who are in a situation and need help. I guess what I really want to know is what could we have done, in hindsight, what could we have done, as everyday people to keep the change from happening, because if so many people are going to be knocked off insurance and your client comes in and she had insurance and she had this issue, imagine the impact of the people who won’t have insurance, what their situations will be like if they ever run into the similar situation she has without insurance. What could we have done to protect ourselves to make sure that our loved ones, and for those who say, “That isn’t for me, I don’t have that insurance,” or, “I didn’t have that coverage,” you know somebody who does,” so, it’s still in our community. What could we have done to make sure that our loved ones are protected, that they would still have this coverage. I mean, we don’t know, like you said, it’s too early to tell, but what could we have done is what I’m wondering.

Contact your elected officials and tell them how you feel. Really, you know. At this point, you know, the House of Representative have already passed it, but the Senate hasn’t taken it up yet, so contact your Senators, let them know how you feel.

Absolutely, and let your voice be heard.

Absolutely.

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

I don’t know what else to say. It’s not a good situation, but it is what it is, and we’ll see what happens.

Yeah. We’ll definitely keep our eye on this. Now, attorney Doig, I want you, we’re not completely done with our interview, but I want you to let people know if they have more specific questions, maybe it’s not about health insurance, but maybe they have medical bills that have mounted up, or they have another bankruptcy issue. I want to stop for a moment to let you tell people how to get in touch with you.

Oh, sure. They could just give me a call, Katherine. My office number is 719-227-8787. If you want to give us a call, we’d be happy to set up a time for them to come in. We’ll go over their situation with them, you know, explore all their options. Bankruptcy isn’t the only thing, you know, I tell people when I meet with them, if I don’t think bankruptcy is the right solution for them, I tell them that right up front. I’ll also answer any questions that they have concerning what they can do to get their financial house in order. I’m happy to do that. There’s no charge for that, initial consultation, and if they just want to call me at 719-227-8787, I’d be happy to discuss their situation with them.

See, attorney Doig, when somebody gets in trouble, they want to be in the company of someone like you. We’ve taken the badness out of the word bankruptcy, and we’ve shown them that attorneys do care, and when you said, “I’m not going to just have you file bankruptcy, I’m going to tell you if it works for you or not,” and I think that’s reassuring, too, because a lot of times we are concerned, not just with attorneys, but with anyone, am I going to be taken advantage of, and you said, “No, that’s not what I’m going to be doing. I want to hear what you have to say, hear what your situation is and I will let you if this works for you or what some other options are for you.” I think that’s reassuring to know that there is some support for what they are going through, because life happens. It happens, and we can’t avoid it.

Absolutely right. We’re happy to do that.

Now, we’ve talked about so many things when we’ve had you on the show as it pertains to bankruptcy, someone needing to file bankruptcy. Let’s say someone, and this will be my final question for today. The big thing was about the health insurance for me, today, I was curious about that; but, let’s say someone, they feel like they’re in a bad situation, how does someone really know it’s time to pick up the phone to call someone like you? I know we’ve talked about they when it’s like their last resort, but let’s say the person is able to determine this needs to be my first phone call. What would really be the telltale or them?

You know, if they’re having a hard time making ends meet, they really have no reason not to call. If their wages are being garnished, if they’ve lost their job, if they’re getting collection calls, I know those things can be really difficult, if the phone is ringing from 8:02 AM until 8:59 PM seven days a week, you know, or even less than that. If they’ve been notified that they’re going to be losing their job and they’re afraid that they’re not going to be able to make their credit card payments or whatever, hey, if they just give us a call, I’ll be happy to meet with them and go through their situation, let them know I’ve been doing this for quite a while, I’ve seen a lot of different situations, and I’m happy to do it. They should know this is a judgment free zone, we’re really not interested in how a person got to the point where they ended up picking up the phone, and we’re much more interested in where they’re going to be a year or two or three down the road, in a better place.

Awesome. Attorney Doig, I want to say thank you. I want to say thank you for stopping by. This needs to be said and shared with us. Letting us know a judgment-free zone, you know, help is here, you know, pick up the phone, it’s not going to cost you anything to pick up the phone to find out how to put yourself in a better situation. Now, that doesn’t mean once you retain him it doesn’t cost anything, but that initial phone call, I want people to go ahead and make that phone call so they’ll know what direction to go in. We all like to be able to spend our money wisely, I believe that, so, if they can have a direction after talking with you, I think that would help them make their wisest decisions. So, again, thank you for stopping by This Needs to be Said, and sharing with the audience.

OK, well, thank you, Katherine. I enjoyed speaking with you today. Have a great rest of the day.

Until next time, you too, bye-bye.

Bye-bye.