Regular readers have heard me whine about the expense of medical care time and time again. Here's yet another reason we need some real change in this country. I thought I was well protected by good insurance. Think again. Our problem isn't just the uninsured (which, by the way, are made up largely of people with chronic illnesses that have lost coverage, and now can't even buy coverage because of theri pre-existing conditions) - it's also the growing number of underinsured.
Medical bills prompt more than 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies
By Theresa Tamkins
This year, an estimated 1.5 million Americans will declare bankruptcy. Many people may chalk up that misfortune to overspending or a lavish lifestyle, but a new study suggests that more than 60 percent of people who go bankrupt are actually capsized by medical bills.
Bankruptcies due to medical bills increased by nearly 50 percent in a six-year period, from 46 percent in 2001 to 62 percent in 2007, and most of those who filed for bankruptcy were middle-class, well-educated homeowners, according to a report that will be published in the August issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
"Unless you're a Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, you're one illness away from financial ruin in this country," says lead author Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., of the Harvard Medical School, in Cambridge, Mass. "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."
To read the full story, go to: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/05/bankruptcy.medical.bills/
Medical bills prompt more than 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies
By Theresa Tamkins
This year, an estimated 1.5 million Americans will declare bankruptcy. Many people may chalk up that misfortune to overspending or a lavish lifestyle, but a new study suggests that more than 60 percent of people who go bankrupt are actually capsized by medical bills.
Bankruptcies due to medical bills increased by nearly 50 percent in a six-year period, from 46 percent in 2001 to 62 percent in 2007, and most of those who filed for bankruptcy were middle-class, well-educated homeowners, according to a report that will be published in the August issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
"Unless you're a Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, you're one illness away from financial ruin in this country," says lead author Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., of the Harvard Medical School, in Cambridge, Mass. "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."
To read the full story, go to: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/05/bankruptcy.medical.bills/
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