If ever in this country we believe that we do not have to pay debts, because it is inconvenient or difficult, we have a real problem because the ability of honest and hard-working people to obtain loans is going to be much more difficult. An individual citizen should pay his or her debt. But at the same time, it does not reward those who lightly walk away from debts they have every ability to repay either in whole or in part. Fundamentally, the way this system works is very unusual, in many respects. It may strike Americans as strange to realize, regardless of their ability to pay it off in relatively short order, they could walk into bankruptcy court, file under chapter 7, and wipe out that debt and not ever have to pay it.
Some people do that and abuse the system.
That kind of thing happens in our court. That is an extreme example, but there are less extreme examples of it on a routine basis. You say, well, it was for a hospital. If a person cannot pay their hospital bill, if they cannot pay their other bills, if their income will not support it, then bankruptcy is for them. If you file under chapter 13, the court will work with you and your attorney and develop a repayment plan for all or a portion of that debt.