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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow the Affordable Care Act Drove Down Personal Bankruptcy
As legislators and the executive branch renew their efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act this week, they might want to keep in mind a little-known financial consequence of the ACA: Since its adoption, far fewer Americans have taken the extreme step of filing for personal bankruptcy.
Filings have dropped about 50 percent, from 1,536,799 in 2010 to 770,846 in 2016 (see chart, below). Those years also represent the time frame when the ACA took effect. Although courts never ask people to declare why theyre filing, many bankruptcy and legal experts agree that medical bills had been a leading cause of personal bankruptcy before public healthcare coverage expanded under the ACA. Unlike other causes of debt, medical bills are often unexpected, involuntary, and large.
If youre uninsured or underinsured, you can run up a huge debt in a short period of time, says Lois Lupica, a bankruptcy expert and Maine Law Foundation Professor of Law at the University of Maine School of Law.
So did the rise of the ACAwhich helped some 20 million more Americans get health insurancecause the decline in bankruptcies?
The many experts we interviewed also pointed to two other contributing factors: an improving economy and changes to bankruptcy laws in 2005 that made it more difficult and costly to file. However, they almost all agreed that expanded health coverage played a major role in the marked, recent decline.
Filings have dropped about 50 percent, from 1,536,799 in 2010 to 770,846 in 2016 (see chart, below). Those years also represent the time frame when the ACA took effect. Although courts never ask people to declare why theyre filing, many bankruptcy and legal experts agree that medical bills had been a leading cause of personal bankruptcy before public healthcare coverage expanded under the ACA. Unlike other causes of debt, medical bills are often unexpected, involuntary, and large.
If youre uninsured or underinsured, you can run up a huge debt in a short period of time, says Lois Lupica, a bankruptcy expert and Maine Law Foundation Professor of Law at the University of Maine School of Law.
So did the rise of the ACAwhich helped some 20 million more Americans get health insurancecause the decline in bankruptcies?
The many experts we interviewed also pointed to two other contributing factors: an improving economy and changes to bankruptcy laws in 2005 that made it more difficult and costly to file. However, they almost all agreed that expanded health coverage played a major role in the marked, recent decline.
http://www.consumerreports.org/personal-bankruptcy/how-the-aca-drove-down-personal-bankruptcy/
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How the Affordable Care Act Drove Down Personal Bankruptcy (Original Post)
DesertRat
May 2017
OP
The 1% likes when people are in debt. And this is the 1% Administration and Congress.
WinkyDink
May 2017
#2
I did hear this - think it was on Rachel Maddow - but this needs to be publicized everywhere!
Rhiannon12866
May 2017
#3
DesertRat
(27,995 posts)1. kick
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)2. The 1% likes when people are in debt. And this is the 1% Administration and Congress.
Rhiannon12866
(206,332 posts)3. I did hear this - think it was on Rachel Maddow - but this needs to be publicized everywhere!
DesertRat
(27,995 posts)4. Thanks, I hadn't heard this before
It doesn't fit with the anti-Obamacare narrative that's so prevalent in the media.