i think it s fair to say medical debt is a crisis in this country right now. two out of every three bankruptcies in the u.s. right now are tied to medical issues and the debt from hospital stays, doctors visit, et cetera, according to a study published this year in the american journal of public health. a debt can sometimes be crushing, sometimes hospitals end up going after patient was don t pay, by hounding them with collection calls, senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen visited a hospital that s going even farther. reporter: carlsbad, new mexico, where the pekos river winds its way through the desert and the valley. stunning. and remote. some restaurants and shops and one hospital. carlsbad medical center. when have you an emergency in carlsbad, new mexico, a heart attack, a broken bone, is there
life. don t give your whole social security number. gretchen: let s get an e-mail to help a viewer. jason said, i m getting collection calls for an outstanding medical bill, but it s not mine. they wanted my social security number to prove it, but i didn t give it to them. do you think i ve been the victim of identity fraud? what do you think? no, i don t think so in this case. i think what you re getting is you just got somebody that is one of these debt buyers. they bought a very old debt and they re calling everybody in the united states that has your name trying to find the guy. and so again, i would give them the last four digits of your social and see if you can get rid of them. if that doesn t work, go to the federal trade commission web site and file a complaint. gretchen: always great advice. good to see you. thank you. gretchen: coming up next, even the irs admits this star trek spoof wasn t a good use of taxpayer money. now captain kirk himself is weighing in. then
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you know the reason why i think its always had a big celebrity draw is its dark and cavy, there s not windows, red leather booths. so you can t really see who s in there, so celebrities feel comfortable and we have back doors and they go out the kitchen and stuff like that so we make it nice for them. [ male announcer ] the emotional burden of debt, not everybody can understand it. the worry. the endless collection calls. we know what it s like to be in your shoes. we re the providers of careone debt relief services.