"She and her wife had a blended family of five kids that cost a lot to keep healthy. As a result, years ago, the couple had asked PrairieStar if they could set up an ongoing payment plan to automatically take money from their checking accounts multiple times a month. Voss-Barnes would later state in a court filing that PrairieStar never informed her those payments were not enough to cover her bills and keep her out of collections."
"Voss-Barnes, a nurse who feels confident navigating the health care system, wanted to push back. She reached out to a local lawyer to see if he could represent them, but he said the debt was too small to be worth it. So she represented herself, filing a letter in court objecting to the lawsuit and asking to continue the existing payment plan."
Ashley Voss-Barnes received a court summons after PrairieStar Health Center sued her and her wife for small unpaid medical bills. PrairieStar is a federally funded nonprofit community health center serving a region with many families needing financial help. The couple had set up automatic payments years earlier, and they were not notified that those payments fell short. A local lawyer declined to take the case because the debt was small, so Voss-Barnes represented herself and sought to continue the payment plan. The couple later agreed to new payment plans with a collections agency and faced added costs.
Read at Truthout
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