Personal Bankruptcy Tied to Medical Debt
[I:http://freshbreadmachine.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/MegBrown18.jpg]Republican, Democrat, Left, Right, Centrist… No matter how citizens in this nation may choose to politically identify ourselves, we are all pretty much in agreement about one thing: This country needs health care reform. Our suggestions as to what shape that reform should come in may not be identical but there is no denying that we are currently on the fast track to bankruptcy if meaningful reform is delayed much longer.
In fact, many individual Americans have already been bankrupted through devastating encounters with our current health care system. This past summer, the respected American Journal of Medicine released new study findings that revealed some staggering statistics that reveal the role that medical expenses play in personal bankruptcy filings. Working to reduce the margin of error in their findings, the authors applied a stringency to the study that made it a first of its kind: a truly random sample of bankruptcy filers nationwide, followed up with detailed personal interviews of participants. Medical causes of bankruptcy were defined to include medical bills and loss of income due to health issues. In conclusion, they discovered that more than 60% of personal bankruptcy filings in 2007 had significant medically related expenses that pushed individuals and families over the financial edge to file for bankruptcy.
Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, one of the study’s authors, voiced her conclusions in an interview with CNN saying, “Unless you’re a Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, you ‘re one illness away from financial ruin in this country If an illness is long enough and expensive enough, private insurance offers very little protection against medical bankruptcy, and that’s the major finding in our study.” There are those who find Dr. Woolhandler’s words a little radical. A spokesman for the Washington, D.C. based nonpartisan policy research foundation, The Center for Studying Health System Change, admitted some reservations about the findings but at the same time concluded that 1 in 5 American families are “unduly strained” by medical bills.
It is hard to fathom the aggressive rise in medical costs and their burden on families in the past 30 years. 1981 statistics indicate that only 8% of personal bankruptcy filings were in the aftermath of medical crisis. (These numbers were extracted from court records which did not indicate the origin of debt handled by collection agencies.) In 2001 findings, the number of medically related bankruptcies had jumped to 46%. In the short gap of 6 years, the American Journal of Medicine’s findings for 2007 rose to nearly 62%. What the numbers will be after the effects of the current economic recession are tallied gives reason for pause.
The stigma that hangs over personal bankruptcy in our country is in part due to the public’s common misunderstanding of what the average filer looks like; many people have a mental image of a hapless slouch. The American Journal of Medicine’s study reveals this misapprehension for the untruth that it is. Most of the debtors surveyed were middle class, middle aged and college educated. 75% of the debtors had health insurance coverage at the onset of their financial and health problems. Typically this insurance left them with the commonplace gaps of high premiums, copayments, hefty deductibles and a range of uncovered medical services. It is important to note that policy rescission is a normative practice among medical insurance companies with 25% cancelling an individual’s policy immediately upon a disability diagnosis and another 25% of companies cancelling within one year of the diagnosis.
If “what is good for the middle class is good for America” is a useful measure of social and economic policy in this country, it is plain to see that viable and visionary health care reform is a mandate. With premiums, deductibles, institutional and procedural costs running on an unchecked course, the system will shortly be unsustainable. This year, 2009, the U.S. is predicted to spend an unprecedented 17.6% of its GDP on health care. What is not taken into account on top of this mind-boggling statistic is the hidden economic and societal costs of medically related personal and small business bankruptcies.
Do a quick online search for this American Journal of Medicine study and review it in its entirety for yourself (www.amjmed.com, Vol. 122, Issue 8 pp. 741 to 746). As a citizen, you owe this brief time investment to both you and your country. Inform yourself and do not leave decision making of this kind solely and silently in the hands of your elected officials. It doesn’t hurt to remember that your representatives have plump health insurance packages that the average Joe is barred from participating in.
No related posts.
Try the Zojirushi Bread Machine for delicious home made bread!