Half of Bankruptcy Due to Medical Bills -- U.S. Study

[clem_c_rock]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=8&u=/nm/20050202/ts_nm/health_bankruptcy_dc

Just wait - Mortgage defaults will replace this.

<snippit>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Half of all U.S. bankruptcies are caused by soaring medical bills and most people sent into debt by illness are middle-class workers with health insurance, researchers said on Wednesday.

The study, published in the journal Health Affairs, estimated that medical bankruptcies affect about 2 million Americans every year, if both debtors and their dependents, including about 700,000 children, are counted.

"Our study is frightening. Unless you're Bill Gates (news - web sites) you're just one serious illness away from bankruptcy," said Dr. David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School (news - web sites) who led the study.

"Most of the medically bankrupt were average Americans who happened to get sick. Health insurance offered little protection."
</snippit>

[MikeG]

1. Sounds right to me.

[indepat]

2. When the neocon plan for health insurance takes full effect, bankruptcies

will likely mushroom beyond belief.

[MountainLaurel]

3. What amazed me

Is that most of these folks HAD insurance at the time of the medical problem. It was the other shit they had to pay for: medications that weren't covered, copays and deductibles, lifetime caps, physical therapy, etc.

Can someone explain to me again why universal health care is verboten?

[Wright Patman]

4. We can't afford the wars

if there's any social spending. It's really that simple. Your federal government has been hijacked by empire-building pirates and privateers with really not much hope of getting it back as most of the elite Dems are in on the scam.

[Nite Owl]

5. So what kink of 'value'

is it to destroy a family? We should be taking that approach with health care. If they can spend money like drunken sailors ( no offense intended to any drunken sailor) for their imperialistic war and tax cuts for the wealthy why are the people left out? Dems should be using this study to bash them over the head again and again.

[MountainLaurel]

6. kick

Because I think everyone needs to see this.

:kick: