Medical
Expenses Responsible
for
Bankruptcies

 

From a recent issue of NurseWeek comes this tid bit of information that I think will interest the simplicity crowd.

Illness and out of control medical expenses are at least partly responsible for about half of all personal bankruptcies filed by Americans last year. From the study’s author (Elizabeth Warren, JD, professor of law at Harvard University): "You’d think that most people who file for bankruptcy are free spending credit card junkies... For many Americans, bankruptcy is only one major illness or catastrophic injury away." (The study will be published this month in Norton Bankruptcy Law Adviser)... And its not that these folks are uninsured. "Rather, they don’t have enough insurance."

The survey also found that families headed by women are twice as likely as those with a male present to file for bankruptcy due to medical reasons.

Among debtors 65 or older, 46.7% listed medical reasons as a cause for bankruptcy, compared to only 7.5% of those younger than 25.

NurseWeek (May 8, 2000; page 6)

Compare the above with this from the LA Times:

Norwegian novelist Erik Fosnes Hansen agrees that the mental relief provided by social democracy is probably an element in Scandinavian writers’ success. "Socialized medicine and national insurance provide everyone with a sense of safety and security," said the 35 year old author. "Even if you get a serious illness, you don’t have to worry about ending up with huge bills to pay." (May 31, A6)

And how about these stats from FAIR (May/June, 2000):

1. Per capita health spending in the US is $4,000 last year, compared to $1800 in Canada.

2. 24% of US health spending went to administration, compared with 11% in Canada.

3. Real per capita health spending in the US has risen by 27% since 1990, in Canada it has risen by only 7%

4. A 1998 survey by Zogby, a Republican-oriented polling firm found that 51% of Americans would favor a "government run healthcare plan that covers everyone in the same way, like the system used in Canada. It would be paid for through taxes and cover all necessary medical costs." Only 38% were opposed.