Debt Collectors Go After The Homeless
Phil Hughes is a homeless handy-man who’ll paint your house number on your curb for $5 and some turkey leftovers, says Mary Olsen, a homeowner who hires Hughes for occasional jobs. When Hughes got sick, Mary Olsen told him to put down her name as an emergency contact. “I didn’t want him to die and not know about it,” she said. Hughes spent 3 or 4 days in the hospital and the bill came to Mary Olsen’s house. It was for $42,000.
Here’s a homeless man who doesn’t have a penny to his name and he has this enormous hospital bill. How’s he going to pay it? A collection agency began hounding her with phone calls looking for Hughes, especially on early Saturday mornings. She told them Hughes did not live there, was homeless and could not afford to pay. Her pleas made no difference: The calls continued daily for a couple of weeks. Finally, Mary threated the debt collectors with media exposure to get the calls to stop. Perhaps he can pay in leftover turkey.
