Couple Says They Were Advised To Get Divorced To Reduce Out-Of-Pocket Medical Costs

PALATINE, Ill. (CBS) -- A suburban couple struggling with medical bills claims the government told them to get a divorce to lower their out-of-pocket cost.

CBS 2's Lauren Victory looked into the idea of busting up a marriage to save cash.

Once Laurie Trevino sat down and got comfortable on a sofa, she opened up about the uncomfortable – never-ending medical bills.

She has her own problems with her back and her backbone, while her husband of 21 years, David, has stage 4 cancer.

David has to swallow several pills every day. The Palatine couple is also swallowing their cost – more than $2,200 each month.

And they are most speechless thinking about a strategy supposedly suggested by the Illinois Department of Human Services, twice.

"She said 'Laurie, I hate to say this,' she goes, 'but you guys would be better off getting divorced,'" Laurie said.

Medicaid could help, except the Trevinos' income is over the limit. That income is less than $2,600 a month from disability.

Most of that pays for their apartment, which filled with belongings from a storage unit they canceled to save money.

Ending their marriage would lower something called spend down, which works like a deductible.

As a couple, the Trevinos' spend down is $1,400 a month, but it would decrease by almost $1,000 if they separated their incomes and got divorced.

"To know that we have just have to throw away something so important to us just to keep him alive, it doesn't make sense," Laurie said.

Health care economist David Slusky explained that there is a name for such a phenomenon – medical divorce. Slusky studied medical divorce after the Affordable Care Act.

"This has been something that we've been talking about as a country, certainly since the health care reform debate in the early Obama administration," Slusky said.

His theory is that expanding Medicaid coverage reduced medical divorce. That does not mean couples currently on the cusp of Medicaid's limits won't consider it.

As to a solution, Slusky said, "The Affordable Care Act, and many of the people running for president today would argue that we need a much more comprehensive universal system."

But while the fight continues in Washington, the struggle continues in Palatine.

We asked the State of Illinois if suggesting divorce is protocol. We are still waiting for an answer.