Half of Bankruptcy Due to Medical Bills- 75.7 percent had insurance

"Half of all U.S. bankruptcies are caused by soaring medical bills and most people sent into debt by illness are middle-class workers with health insurance, researchers said on Wednesday....

"Most of the medically bankrupt were average Americans who happened to get sick. Health insurance offered little protection."...

"Among those whose illnesses led to bankruptcy, out-of-pocket costs averaged $11,854 since the start of illness; 75.7 percent had insurance at the onset of illness."...

He said fewer than 1 percent of all bankruptcy filings were due to credit card debt. "That truly is a myth," Cauthen said in a telephone interview."


http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0202-08.htm

And this is from 2005...

My policy requires a steep deductible and a 20% co-pay after that, with an out-of-pocket maximum that is twice the deductible.

It's more than I can actually afford.

at one time; to prevent financial ruin?

You foolishly think that you are covered so you get the care you need.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

During the Bush years.

When will the US realize that single-payer health care is cheaper, more efficient, and less discriminatory....and that it will help the economy and business, along wtih the worker and his/her family? This whole business of getting the private sector to replace the government because competition will somehow make things cheaper is one of the most annoyingly pervasive myths I run into.

I don't argue that Single Payer is not needed; I believe it is desperately needed.

But I question the above assertions: "fewer than 1 percent of all bankruptcy filings were due to credit card debt".

Credit card debt is a (not "THE") cause in more than 1% of bankruptcies. I guarantee it.

Hospitals that refuse to honor their agreements with patients and contract out their billing and collections are creating this trouble for us. The billing/collections agencies don't give a damn if the hospital told a patient that they could make monthly payments, and they harass patients with outright lies in their efforts to collect payments.


Three stories:

1) 10 years ago, my husband had to visit the ER while uninsured for injuries from a bicycle accident. The hospital agreed to a payment plan. Five months later, his account went to collections without warning - and he'd been making payments according to what he thought was a mutual agreement. The outside collections agency refused to negotiate with him, demanded payment in full, and my husband then filed bankruptcy, and they didn't get anything more than what they'd already received.

2) Last year, I had outpatient sinus surgery. I was insured, and was responsible for %20 of hospital charges. At my intake meeting with the hospital business office, I paid a $150 deposit for services on a credit card, and the person doing my intake agreed to accept monthly payments of $75 until my balance was paid off. My husband was there to witness it. Four weeks after my surgery, a billing agency called and asked for payment in full. I told the caller we were making monthly payments, and the hospital had agreed to it. He said there was no agreement. I very politely told him he was wrong, that in fact there was an oral agreement that had been witnessed by my husband. I also told him that if his records did not show the agreement, that was a fault of the record, and that he needed to take it up with his supervisor. I told him that we would continue to pay monthly as agreed to in my intake meeting.

3) A coworker had inpatient surgery at the same hospital I had been to. She set up a payment plan during her intake session. She also received a call from an outside billing agency demanding payment in full, and telling her that she did not have a payment plan. She gave them the same hell I did, and they backed off.

:shrug:

When I signed up for my Blue Cross coverage, I couldn't help but notice countless other supplemental plans seemingly intended for hospital visits and surgeries. Makes me think standard insurance is only good for over-the-counter prescriptions or common illnesses. Get cancer and you're screwed without these supplemental plans.

For those who are critical of their system, it quickly ends the conversation. :)

there are now gaps in their coverage.

But, veterans who have financial problems can always use the VA. They've got a safety net most people - and few women - have.

I've been on military med, Virginia state employee med and Canadian med.

Unless you are extremely wealthy, everyone in America is one major medical event away from a financial abyss.

Now, how many bankruptcies in Canada are due to medical expenses? How about England? How about France?

Looking for payment on a bill that incurred by my fahter at a local hospital in 2003. My father died in 1998. My mother explained this to the collector and told him he had incorrect records and that he needed to check with his supervisors. Well, that didn't work. They called repeatedly, upsetting my poor mom worse and worse each time.

Finally, I was there when they called. Ah, retribution!!! They had been insisting that Mom needed to furnish proof that my father was dead, and I told the jackass on the other end that we absolutely did not have to furnish anything to them: they had better furnish us with proof that my father actually received these services or else stop calling us because my next call was going to be to our attorney.

They left us alone after that. I can't stand those horrible vultures.

I could easily see this happening to myself.

a collector (attempting to collect on my last Hospital stay) that I had $70. I could send it to them or I could pay the phone company so they could continue to call me...:rofl:

:rofl:

:rofl:

now would be a great time to do it.