[newgeezer]

Welp, that settles it. Free healthcare for everyone!!!!!

[Drango]

OJ's bankruptcy wasn't due to medical bills....

[Graybeard58]

My wife had surgery about a year ago and the total bill for hospital and surgery was around $75,000.

We do have good insurance and had zero out of pocket expence.

I can see how a few of those could really hurt people without good insurance.

[A Ruckus of Dogs]

The problem with our medical system is the high cost.

[lnbchip]

This does offer as a chance reminder that we really do have a crisis in health insurance here in the US. The Medicare and Medicaid systems (our own version of socialized medicine) have pushed up healthcare costs in the form of unbelievable regulation and requirements for participation while at the same time forcing downward its reimbursements to healthcare providers. This has resulted in Private Insurance having to make up the difference. Private Insurance and Self-Pay customers are covering for the net loss from providing services to patients under govt. programs while being the only source for profits. As a result, private insurers are jacking up premiums while cutting benefits to their subscribers. This is what happens when govt. runs healthcare. People moan and groan about the day coming when Hillary and her bunch get their hands on healthcare and it becomes "government run". That day is today. Most sick people are elderly and on Medicare. Therefore, Medicare sets the agenda for healthcare and sets the rules for providing healthcare. Something has to be done to the system before the govt. destroys it.

[1Old Pro]

Let's face it, healthcare is expensive. How many of these people had less quality coverage because they wanted to afford their boat or brand new car payments?

[chiefqc]

You can bet your as* that our elected officals are not part of this 46%, they have the very best that the tax payer are forced to provide them with.

Nothing will change until they are forced to live under the same conditions and laws that the little people are forced to live under.

[GraceCoolidge]

Illness and medical bills were cited as the cause, at least in part, for 46.2 percent of the personal bankruptcies in the study. Himmelstein said the figure rose to 54.5 percent when three other factors were counted as medical-related triggers for bankruptcies: births, deaths and pathological gambling addiction.

I wondered about how exactly the study was done. The language of "at least in part," for example. If someone had $80K in credit card bills, but also had $5K in medical bills, were they included in the count? After all, in bankruptcy, I believe generally you discharge all debts, no matter the amount. What if they were discharging medical bills, but it wasn't the medical bills that drove them into bankruptcy? I also wonder what is included as a "medical bill"? For example, some elective medical procedures (cosmetic surgery, fertility treatment) can be pretty expensive, I'm sure. What about drug abuse? Let's face it, a lot of people addicted to drugs probably aren't too reliable on the job or responsible with money. The article didn't give a real thorough breakdown on how these figures were determined.....