Oak Park Real Estate & Estate Planning Blog

Now that the House of Representatives has passed its version of the law aimed at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), it is an important time for Chicagoland residents to look closely at the ways in which the ACA has had a positive impact not only on American healthcare, but also on consumer debt . As an article in Consumer Reports makes explicit, since the adoption of the ACA, “far fewer Americans have taken the extreme step of filing for personal bankruptcy.” Since the ACA took effect in 2010, American bankruptcy filings “dropped by about 50%, from 1,536,799 in 2010 to 770,846,” according to the article. Given that medical bills are among the leading causes of consumer bankruptcy across the U.S., some experts suggest that the decline in filings could in fact be causally related to the passage of the ACA. What else do you need to know about this connection, and how could a new law result in a surge in personal bankruptcy filings? Previously Uninsur...

Does healthcare reform have an impact on the rate of personal bankruptcy filings ? According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal , mandatory health insurance could reduce the number of consumer bankruptcy filings across the country. And with the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the tenets of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Illinois and the rest of the country may, perhaps, see a decline in the number of consumers filing for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Recent History of Mandatory Insurance and Bankruptcy Filings How do we know that mandatory health insurance could have a noticeable effect on personal bankruptcy in our country? A study conducted last year by Northeastern University law professor Daniel Austin determined that Massachusetts saw a decline in consumer bankruptcy filings after health insurance became mandatory for all residents of the state back in 2005. Austin determined, in short, that Massachusetts residents who filed for ...