medical bankruptcy study: 67% cite illness & medical bills as contributors to financial ruin
I got this an an email. Horrible that this happens in the USA!!
New medical bankruptcy study: 67% of filers cite illness and medical bills as contributors to financial ruin
1 message
Drs. Steffie Woolhandler & David Himmelstein, PNHP <info@pnhp.org> Thu, Feb 14, 2019 at 12:26 PM
Reply-To: info@pnhp.org
To xxxx
Feb. 14, 2019
Dear colleague,
Last week, the American Journal of Public Health published our new study on the effects of medical bills and illness on personal bankruptcy. Along with our collaborators from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project (CBP), we surveyed a random sample of 910 Americans who filed for personal bankruptcy between 2013 and 2016, and abstracted the court records of their bankruptcy filings. Our findings indicate that 530,000 families suffer bankruptcies each year that are linked to illness or medical bills. In fact, medical problems contributed to 66.5% of all bankruptcies, a figure that is virtually unchanged since before the passage of the ACA. Overall, we found that health insurance offered little financial protection to middle-class Americans.
The study, which is one component of the CBP's ongoing bankruptcy research, provides the only national data on medical contributors to bankruptcy since the 2010 passage of the ACA.
These findings provide a strong wake-up call to those who would rather tinker with our many existing health insurance programs instead of moving towards a universal single-payer system providing comprehensive coverage. We found no evidence that the ACA, or even the ACA's Medicaid expansion, reduced the proportion of bankruptcies driven by medical problems.
What's even more striking is that bankruptcy is most common among middle-class Americans. While private insurance is sold as a safeguard against financial ruin, most enrollees have policies with so many loopholes, copayments, and deductibles that illness can put them in the poorhouse. And even the best job-based health insurance often vanishes when prolonged illness causes job loss – just when families need it most.
Private health insurance is a defective product, akin to an umbrella that melts in the rain. This study is another reminder that we need to move beyond the ACA to a single-payer, improved Medicare-for-All system.
Please share these findings with your colleagues and elected officials.
Media coverage of "Medical bankruptcy: Still common despite the Affordable Care Act":
"This is the real reason most Americans file for bankruptcy," by Lorie Konish, CNBC
"The Health 202: A new study has found medical problems contribute to 66.5 percent of all bankruptcies," by Paige Winfield Cunningham, Washington Post
"Medical debt a factor in two-thirds of bankruptcies in survey," by Kelly Gooch, Becker's Hospital Review
"This is the thing most likely to cause you financial ruin — but few prepare for it," by Catey Hill, Marketwatch
"The Affordable Care Act did almost nothing to stop medical bankruptcies," by Libby Watson, Splinter
"Despite promises of ACA, study shows two-thirds of personal bankruptcies still caused by illness and medical bills," by Julia Conley, Common Dreams
"Affordable Care Act Hasn't Reduced Bankruptcies: Study," by Michael Rainey, The Fiscal Times
Sincerely,
Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., M.P.H. and David U. Himmelstein, M.D.
Co-founders, PNHP
Physicians for a National Health Program
29 E Madison St Ste 1412 | Chicago, Illinois 60602
312-782-6006 | info@pnhp.org
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