ORLANDO, Fla. — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reports medical debt is now the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States, with $88 billion of that debt in collections nationwide. A surprise diagnosis or disease can put many people into a financial struggle unexpectedly.

What You Need To Know

  • The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reports medical debt is now the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States, with $88 billion of that debt in collections nationwide

  • Kanwar Bhutani began developing Parkinson’s Disease when he was just 39 years old.  He was confined to a wheelchair until he found a new medication

  • Bhutani’s condition forced him to retire early from his corporate executive job, and the medical costs threw his family into a financial tailspin

  • But through word of mouth, Bhutani heard about The Assistance Fund, or TAF, a national nonprofit based in Orlando that helps people like Bhutani with the cost of medication that insurance won’t cover

Kanwar Bhutani began developing Parkinson’s disease when he was just 39 years old. He was confined to a wheelchair until he found a new medication.

“You’re shaking involuntarily and your speech also gets disturbed, but with this medicine, it stabilizes that,” said Bhutani.

But Bhutani says that miracle medication, even with insurance, costs him $47,000 a year.

“A little over $2,000 a month and it’s not covered by insurance, but this is the medicine that’s absolutely essential that’s helped me tremendously,” said Bhutani.

Bhutani’s condition forced him to retire early from his corporate executive job at Tupperware. The medical costs threw his family into a financial tailspin.

“As soon as I was in the top of my game at work and was doing very well, but then I had the Parkinson’s diagnosis,” said Bhutani. “So I was in shock and disbelief for the first 10 years, and then COVID hit and my wife was diagnosed with stage 4 endometrial cancer, and she was my primary caregiver so it was hard for her to look after me because she was given two weeks to live.”

Luckily, his wife survived her health scare, but the couple’s future is uncertain.

But through word of mouth, Bhutani heard about The Assistance Fund, or TAF.

A national nonprofit based in Orlando, TAF helps cover the cost of people’s medications that insurance won’t. To qualify for assistance with TAF, patients must have a diagnosed disease, be taking FDA-approved medication and be in financial need for help. TAF is fueled mostly by corporate donations, along with CEO Danielle Vizcaino’s drive to help people.

“There’s a person on the other side of all the stress that we carry and the hard work we do, and I know that it impacts individuals like Kanwar, and I’m so fortunate that the stress that I carry, that someone’s benefitting from that,” said Vizcaino.

Thanks to that medication, Bhutani is now able to walk again, and even run.

He even ran the New York Marathon with his son. Getting help to pay the cost of his medication allows him to manage Parkinson’s, at least for now. But he knows the medical challenges will increase. Any savings he and his wife have not spent yet will likely have to go towards health care costs, and not the retirement they always looked forward to.

“Your limbs aren’t going to be able to move eventually, and as a result of that, it’s important to have a long-term care policy, but I don’t have one,” said Bhutani. 

In a year when people vote for at the ballot box could have impacts on their health care, Bhutani says he’ll be choosing candidates who will be focused on improving the affordability of care.

“That’s going to be very important, and this year’s election is going to be one of the most important in history,” said Bhutani. “The whole medical system needs to be reformed in my mind. It’s not that we don’t have good doctors, we have excellent medical facilities, we have good doctors in this country, probably the best in the world by far, but the rates are astronomical and it’s beyond anyone’s pocketbook to be able to afford it.”

Federal reforms could also give people some relief, but it will take some time. Part of the Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022, is now allowing Medicare to expand benefits, negotiate the lowering of costs of some drugs and keep prescription drug premiums stable.

Bhutani is on the Parkinson Association of Central Florida, which is having a walk to raise money on Saturday, April 6th at Crane’s Roost Park in Altamonte Springs.