This American Life : My Family's Financial Crisis

Part One: My Story

These days are salt at the table. I am blessed and stressed both beyond expectation. My financial situation is literally hard for my mind to accept, meaning that when I try to hold the thought in my mind of how much money we owe and don't have and how much money we need and don't have, my mind moves in long circular, slippery loops so that I cannot view the image, process the picture. When I had the total 3 surgeries for Endometriosis ( Stage 4, 6cm. endometrioma on left ovary ) I had Blue Cross Insurance. Before my diagnosis, I had only pain, only an array of confusing symptoms that took me from doctor to doctor, test to test. As it began to dawn on me that something was actually wrong, it dawned on Blue Cross that they actually had to pay for whatever was wrong, and the 'rejection of payment' notices began filling the mailbox. An MRI rejection- thousands of dollars. I filed the paperwork, contacted my doctor, got his signature, etc, and that one- that one- was finally OK'd.

As I got sicker, more overwhelmed and run down by pain and worry, the tests increased and finally something was found- a large cyst mass on my left ovary- could be cancer, could not, the doctor didn't know: before surgery, another MRI, to decide. My anxiety disorder flew into the birds and eyes and beaks and I was destroyed in the bloody feathered mess. I also had hyothyroidism and a serious case of IBS ( which I 'cured' on my own with food and supplement ) From then on the surgeries and treatments were a blur, and the Blue Cross rejection of payment notices and the cost of consumer payments all added up to somewhere around 70,000$. Yes.

I had insurance and went into major medical debt. Between my husband's income and my own, we are not even lower middle class here in San Diego. We can't move, due to my stepson living here. We wouldn't move away from him, not an option. We are poor. I can't afford the $1,000 to file for medical bankrupcy.

I am moving forward. Mr. Curry can make more money, just not in this economy right now, but he will at some point. I am working furiously ( or was, before morning sickness, and when it abides, will be again ) on my novel and I think I've finally figured out a way to finish my math classes and have the AA and move toward the BA- I'm interested in speech pathology. But nothing we do is going to pay off that debt. I don't regret a single dollar, because in the end I found a specialist in San Jose who did 2 surgeries with me, and have not had any pain from the Endometriosis since then, until now with the scar tissue stretching in pregnancy. I also have not had the immense health threat of those unresolved endometriomal lesions in my abdomen constantly leaking hormones and dead blood, which has affects on women's health we still don't totally understand.

Part Two: Mr. Curry's Story

Mr. Curry grew up in a blue collar working class family where many of the men worked or used to work in the moving business, as movers, contractors, business owners, so it was a natural progression for him after we got married to pursue owning his own contracting business. He worked very hard just to get licensed, buying a semi, hiring workers, and passing a difficult test.Like any small business owner, he worked doubly hard once the business began, long, physically grueling hours coupled with the demands and responsibilities of a business owner: taxes, workers, customers, and the enormous and never ending paperwork that keeps you working after work. He was praised consistently by customers for his work ethic and professional demeanor. He always went out of his way to help a customer or cut them a deal- as well as with the guys who worked for him, to our detriment, at times.

About a year into his business ( Curry Trucking ) the tax laws were changed in a way that dramatically and fatally changed small moving business: the workers compensation taxes went up. They went way up. They went up so high that no one in the United States except for circus performers payed more Workers Comp. taxes than movers. They went up so high that suddenly, we had to choose between paying our bills or paying our taxes. We paid our heat and our light and our rent and none of those were extravagant at all- we lived fairly low to the ground and our cars payment was humble. We had one credit card.

Our mistake began here. We should have closed the business down immediately. We should have hired someone who would have told us Close your business down immediately. We should have done something else, besides what we did, which was hang in there not paying taxes- not hiding from the IRS but not paying them- and by the time 2 years later Mr. Curry hung his head and sold the semi and the business, we owed about 70,000$ to the IRS. Yes.

That catastrophic year for our family did us in. We went from being entirely debt free- outside our cars- to in more debt than I ever imagined I would owe in my LIFE. I had my surgeries, Mr. Curry had hernia surgery, I was in a car crash (my fault, stress and not paying enough attention driving) which totaled our mini-van, we lost our business, Mr. Curry's truck was repossessed for non-payment, and suddenly we had no cars, Mr. Curry was out of work, and we had no idea how we would ever survive.

Now...


Now every year the IRS takes our entire tax return. We have an agreement with them that we are 'on hold' to pay them back, which essentially means that we are too poor to pay them back, and have no assets they can claim, and so they sit and wait, and we sit, and wonder.

This is an avalanche of financial struggle I never thought would happen to me, despite getting pregnant at 19 and unmarried, I thought I would beat the odds- I was determined, going to school at night and working during the day. I can hardly believe or accept that this is real. Writing this out might help. I have a complete lack of ideas or creativity when it comes to dealing with this. Perhaps passive waiting is the best we can do, while we try to increase our income.

There is no way to end this on a happy note. It's a somber note of the financial reality for my family, which I am sure reflects more American lives than just my own. Although the stories are different, the hard work, confusion, anger and helplessness are not.