Your Medical Debt Could Land You In Jail!

{UPDATE: As coronavirus surges across the U.S., more Americans than ever are battling hefty medical bills that are forcing them into debt, which could end up landing them in jail.  Keep signing to help close this loophole!}

Debtors' prisons put people in jail for failing to pay private debts. They are a horrific abuse of civil liberties given that it's essentially the criminalization of being poor. The U.S. formally outlawed the practice nearly 200 years ago. So why is it that people are still ending up in jail for failing to pay debts? 

Tres and Heather Biggs of Coffeyville, Kansas are just one such couple. Their son was diagnosed with leukemia at 5 years old and Heather was already living with chronic Lyme disease. Their medical bills quickly piled up and a predatory lawyer found a way to eventually jail Tres over unpaid bills

Will you sign the petition to make sure no one else ends up in jail over debt?

This could happen to anyone. Imagine your spouse and child become chronically ill. Wouldn't you do anything you could to keep them alive and healthy? Most of us would, and that's just what Tres Biggs did. He took out loans and got the medical care his family needed and the family fell further and further into debt.

Unfortunately, a disgusting loophole industry has been erected around the quicksand that is medical debt. Essentially, collectors hire sleazy lawyers to hold up indebted folks in court and if they fail to pay fees or show up, they are thrown into jail. Tres describes having to strip and be hosed down at the jailhouse, all for doing whatever he could to save the lives of his wife and child. 

The ACLU has been challenging these modern debtors' prisons cases for years now and we are behind them. This loophole must be closed - no one should go to jail for getting the life saving healthcare they need. Will you sign on to ask U.S. legislators to end this practice now?
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