<prompt> Human: Hey all.Posting on behalf of my SO. We live together, and other than both being on the lease have no shared expenses. I am graduated with a BA working an entry level sales job 40k plus commission. She is works in restaurant, making btw 28-35k for that last few years. We live in DC. about 2k a month for essentials While I have pushed her to go get a college degree, we cannot afford to live and work in DC if she also has to split her time and spend her limited income on schooling...Having just finished paying off her prior student loans for a culinary degree, we were set to have a period of building our savings. However medical complications in 2016 forced her to have an emergency life saving operation without insurance. The hospital charged her 40k. It has gone into collection.What are our options? Apparently her credit is shot. She already has a large debt on credit cards.. She also does not have insurance still.How can we possibly try and make a dent in this thing? Its the same as all of my student loans but accrued in the span of a few days. Can she declare bankruptcy? Will that cause me to lose the stuff in my apartment that we have furnished? Most things have been purchased by myself. Any help is appreciated.we are trying to set up a successful financial future but dont know how we can get around this hurdle.  <response>: Well, firstly, combining your finances is now off the table for pretty much the next 10 years. Anyway, her real only option here now that its in collection is bankruptcy or payment plan. Yeah, her credit will be destroyed for 7 more years. She can declare bankruptcy. 