47% Of Americans Can't Even Come Up With $400 To Cover An Emergency Room Visit

zero hedge ^ | 4/21/16 | tyler durden

[Nachum]

If you had to make a sudden visit to the emergency room, would you have enough money to pay for it without selling something or borrowing the funds from somewhere?

Most Americans may not realize this, but this is something that the Federal Reserve has actually been tracking for several years now. And according to the Fed, an astounding 47 percent of all Americans could not come up with $400 to pay for an emergency room visit without borrowing it or selling something.

Various surveys that I have talked about in the past have found that more than 60 percent of all Americans are living to paycheck to paycheck, but I didn’t realize that things were quite this bad for about half the country. If you can’t even come up with $400 for an unexpected emergency room visit, then you are just surviving from month to month by the skin of your teeth. Unfortunately, about half of us are currently in that situation.

Earlier today someone pointed me toward an excellent article in The Atlantic that discussed this, and I have to admit that The Atlantic is one of the last remaining bastions of old school excellence in journalism that you will find in the mainstream media. Of course I don’t see eye to eye with them on a lot of things philosophically, but there are some really hard working journalists over there.

The article where I found the 47 percent figure comes from The Atlantic, and it is entitled “The Secret Shame of Middle-Class Americans“. It was authored by Neal Gabler, and he says that he can identify with the 47 percent of Americans that don’t have $400 for an unexpected emergency room visit because he is one of them…

[21twelve]

If one doesn’t have at least $400 stashed in your house for ANY kind of emergency I think they are foolish.

I was down to my last two cases of bottled water and went to Costco. All they had was the expensive water on hand. I went back two days later and they had about half as much of the normal cheap Costco brand. But that surprised me. But like I told my family - “That’s why I have two cases of water in the shed.” (Not counting all of the half-gallon juice jugs filled with water.)

Yeah - I’m a bit crazy. Until last week when Costco was almost all out bottled water!

By the way. If you go into the Apple store and want to buy a phone, but don’t have the $400 - they tell you to leave. If you go into the emergency room and don’t have the $400, they treat you anyway.

[Tucker39]

Interesting. Isn’t the figure 47% of the populace who are on some kind of gubmint dole, and who don’t pay income tax?

Also, wasn’t it his 47% remark blurted out near a “live” microphone that helped sink Willard Romney?

[bert]

since the 47% includes those of us receiving back the money we payed into social security, your assertion is flawed.

Of course to make a false point you don’t really care about the truth of the matter

[glasseye]

I am on a retiree plan.
One visit to emergency last January cost me $4500 out of pocket for a CT scan and stitching up.
Tragic what obama has allowed to do to healthcare.

[Lou L]

78% could not be reached for this poll because they were healing from their new neck tattoos that “have meaning” to them; 71% could not be reached for the poll because they were downloading Beyoncé’s latest songs on their iPhones; 92% were binge-watching Netflix; and the others were ordering venti-sized carmel-mocha frappucinos with a shot of espresso and a double-pump of chocolate at Starbucks.

[Seruzawa]

I don’t believe it. Which is usual for zerohedge.

[Tucker39]

Thank you for your kind courtesy.
A Cruzer, are you?

[SaveFerris]

I think most are so strapped with their outlays they can’t find it.

I certainly can’t. There’s nearly 95 million not in the workforce for several reasons.

[virgil]

Feral cat, oh me. I’m surprised they didn’t make you get rabies shots.

[CottonBall]

I agree completely. When I first started out on my own, I out money aside in savings before spending anything. If you have a state of mind that makes saving a priority, then it’s easy to make the right decisions.

The entitlement attitude is taught in schools and that extends to spending.

[MV=PY]

"Fortunately most ERs will let you make installment payments... at least until they send the account to a bill collector."

There's a dirty little secret here. The bill collectors can harass you, but they're not allowed to ding your credit if you are late on health care bills.

[pbmaltzman]

I am still paying off a hospital bill of about $5,0000. fortunately they decided to give me a discount.