Posted on 08/18/2009 11:01:49 AM PDT by Mobile Vulgus
Early in June The New York Times was all aghast that overwhelming debt from medical bills will cause “nearly two out of three bankruptcies” in the US. Since then the White House has also used the statistic as a way to sell Obamacare policies and frighten voters into accepting a nationalized healthcare system. But is it true? Are medical bills the culprit of more than 60% of American bankruptcies?
The stark claim that medical debt is the scourge of citizens everywhere comes from a study published in The American Journal of Medicine. Its findings are certainly alarming with an outrageous rate of 62% of bankruptcies being caused by medical bill debt, such debt supposedly having risen 49% between 2001 and 2007. If true, this is a disastrous finding.
But is it true? Not according to the American Enterprise Institute’s Aparna Mathur. Mathur finds a very different story when looking over the available studies and statistics. In testimony before the House Committee on the Judiciary in July, Mathur finds a far less threatening picture.
Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...
Excellent! These are the things that will win the debate if we can communicate them to enough people...
It doesn't matter if you have medical insurance or not, you will still have bills to pay.
So, even those who go bankrupt, due to illness, might not be helped much, by socialized medicine.
Besides: BANKRUTCY SHOULD BE ALLOWED and ENCOURAGED in cases where no other option looks viable.
Our fear of Bankruptcy is what got us into all the bail out craze!
Bankruptcy is a perfectly honorable alternative to government control.
Some people have savings to keep them going if too sick to work. Others have disability income insurance. Still others might change their financial requirements and cut back expenses. I do not agree that people who are too sick to work will eventually go bankrupt, as if it is a foregone conclusion.
even if it were true, it’s not like bankrupcy is a death sentence.
I know several people who went through it and are fine now.
As one who had to declare BK due to my wife’s huge, ongoing medical expenses (and I have relatively “good” insurance), the percentage for me was 100%. I had perfect credit for the preceeding 55 years. I am thankful that I was able to do so before the changes in the BK law pushed (and paid for) by the banks.
My point is only that bankruptcy, in and of itself, is not an evil thing, and that there are times when it is the best alternative.
We need to stop acting like the government should protect folks from bankruptcy.
We live in a free country. If you do not want to accept the risk of health care expenses, buy insurance.
If you decide NOT to buy insurance, then you should have very little protection from bankruptcy, other than your own assets.
By the way, I SELL disability insurance and long term care insurance.
By law, I MUST tell my low income customers that they probably don't need LTC insurance if they don't have much money. The purpose of insurance is to protect your WEALTH!
If you have no wealth, you might not need insurance.
the link’s not working for me....
What about taxes, and legal bills? Don’t you still have to pay taxes after filing bankruptcy?
Must have been a temporary outage. Looks like it’s working now.
thanks, it is indeed working now.
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