Harvard study of medical bankruptcies reports 3/4 had health insurance - This is MUST KNOW stuff!

[Bozita]

I wonder how the MSM managed to not find this study.



Medical Bankruptcy in the United States, 2007:
Results of a National Study

David U. Himmelstein, MD,a Deborah Thorne, PhD,b Elizabeth Warren, JD,c Steffie Woolhandler, MD, MPHa

aDepartment of Medicine, Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass; bDepartment of Sociology, Ohio University,
Athens; and cHarvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Our 2001 study in 5 states found that medical problems contributed to at least 46.2% of
all bankruptcies. Since then, health costs and the numbers of un- and underinsured have increased, and
bankruptcy laws have tightened.

METHODS: We surveyed a random national sample of 2314 bankruptcy filers in 2007, abstracted their court
records, and interviewed 1032 of them. We designated bankruptcies as “medical” based on debtors’ stated
reasons for filing, income loss due to illness, and the magnitude of their medical debts.

RESULTS: Using a conservative definition, 62.1% of all bankruptcies in 2007 were medical; 92% of these
medical debtors had medical debts over $5000, or 10% of pretax family income. The rest met criteria for
medical bankruptcy because they had lost significant income due to illness or mortgaged a home to pay medical
bills. Most medical debtors were well educated, owned homes, and had middle-class occupations. Three
quarters had health insurance. Using identical definitions in 2001 and 2007, the share of bankruptcies attrib-
utable to medical problems rose by 49.6%. In logistic regression analysis controlling for demographic factors,
the odds that a bankruptcy had a medical cause was 2.38-fold higher in 2007 than in 2001.

CONCLUSIONS: Illness and medical bills contribute to a large and increasing share of US bankruptcies.
© 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
• The American Journal of Medicine (2009) xx, xxx


The entire study is online at:
http://www.pnhp.org/new_bankruptcy_study/Bankruptcy-2009.pdf

[FreakinDJ]

1. Yep that is what happened to my neighbor

now he is no longer my neighbor

Apparently the "American Journal of Medicine" is not a good enough source for them

[SPedigrees]

2. It happened to my parents-in-law.

They lost their home, their family business (which took them a lifetime to build up from nothing) and their life savings to the expenses of their final illnesses. They had health insurance. Fortunately medicare took over and covered their final years of nursing care, without which they would have died homeless paupers.

[glinda]

3. Now add to that stress the fact that those of us who barely can afford paying

for our own insurance, already cover those who do not have insurance yet they are talking about fines or fees for insurance companies that will be passed on to us, the middle and lower middle class who pay and pay and pay and pay and then we get sick, get out bill and loose our homes.

[geckosfeet]

4. See extra features at end of Michael Moore's movie 'Sicko'. A similar study in 2001 found the

rate of medical bankruptcy at ridiculous levels. The new study shows medical bankruptcy rates have increased 50% beyond the rate found in the 2001 study.

The share of bankruptcies attributable to medical problems rose by 50% between 2001 and 2007.

Count on the media to continue their studious avoidance of mentioning these facts.

on edit: added info around 2001 study

[PA Democrat]

5. What other "trigger" could a rational person possibly need?

Do you put more time and money into trying to further regulate a corrupt industry with a long history of blatant abuse, or do you offer consumers a public option with a defined set of benefits which will not be denied on the basis of greed?

Strange that so many who favor "three strikes you're out" for petty criminals are willing to give corporate crooks chance after chance to bankrupt and kill people.

[TreasonousBastard]

6. It's been all over the place if you just turn off cable news....

Medical bankruptcies have been big newes for years, even more so lately.

Just not on cable news.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. With my high deductible insurance (with co-pays after the deductible)

I would be bankrupt if I ever had a serious illness.

[geckosfeet]

8. Attn: This is in pdf format with easily understandable abstract and language.

Print, copy and disseminate widely.

Hand deliver copies to your congress peoples office. Leave copies at work. Post on public bulletin boards. Email widely.

Bozita - thank you for posting the link.

[MisterP]

9. oh no! how can we shield, fund, and compromise with these insurers,

who're so poor they can't pay up in these cases! that should be our real concern: after all, they employ people, and it would be Bush-like to close their employers without trial
:crazy:

[truedelphi]

10. As a household who went through his - yes, it is true. And

One small bit of relief would be

1) If you take money out of any prohibited retirement fund, there should be NO penalties and NO taxation if you are spending it on keeping your insurance policy current, or spending those monies on medical related needs.

2) Tax laws should be changed so that 100% of the monies spent by those who are self employed on monthly health insurance premiums are deductible.

We lived with the threat of eviction hanging over our heads for two years - while just the rather minor relief from the details in the above would have kept us current with the landlord.

[cap]

20. 'cept you shouldn't have to take it out of your retirement

your retirement fund is not a piggy bank meant to cover cash flow expenses. Your retirement fund is meant to sit quietly in a bank and let the engine of compound interest work its magic. It is not meant to help with cash flow expenses.

Please note: I am not judging what people HAVE to do in order to survive. I am trying to point out the reality of having another problem of insufficient retirement along with a medical problem.

[truedelphi]

25. I figured where you were coming from - didn't see much judgment there

If we had not raided the retirement piggy back fund, M. would not have eye surgery that was needed and would be BLIND to this day.

His blindness that he experienced from Dec 05 to July 06 was a horrid event. One day his eye doctor was telling him I was the one with bad eyesight, then three months later he was the one who couldn't see.

It took an entire confluence of events to pull the rug out from under us. A perfect storm of events.

But the tax laws were not any help at all, and definitely were not written by those in the middle class, that much those events made clear.

[intheflow]

11. It came from Harvard, Obama's Home Team?

Freepers, teabaggers, and other depraved conservative deviants ears just clamped shut.

Never mind that Bush went to Harvard, it's a bastion of liberalism that's out to destroy democracy!!1!!!1!

[Indenturedebtor]

12. Thank you, I just sent this to some wingers. K + R n/t

[Trillo]

13. So much for "health Insurance".

Words that were here deleted in act of self-censorship.

[hunter]

14. That's why insurance has to be mandatory...

:sarcasm:

If people wise up that insurance won't protect them if they have a serious illness or serious accident then they'll quit buying it. If you are going to be forced into poverty and lose your house anyways, insured or not, what's the point of insurance?

I think a lot of people are looking at the problem rationally and concluding "well fuck this, I'll take my chances."

:shrug:

[WeDidIt]

15. This is the stuff that the insruance companies don't want inserted into the debate

This is why they paid people to get the screamers into the town halls.

[applegrove]

16. Wow.

[Bozita]

17. kicking up from page 3

[Echo In Light]

18. No wonder the fascists are narrowing the bankruptcy parameters/criteria

[blondeatlast]

19. Happened to the @Last family in 2001. Employer wasn't paying the premiums and I had

to have heart surgery. Insurance company pre-approved the procedure thinking that the the premiums would be caught up. They never were and the employer skipped off to the Bahamas (sounds made up, but that is exactly what happened).

Another victim of this was my hubby's colleague, who had newborn, high risk identical twins. We recovered--they haven't even now. Fellow employees got together to buy them a decent used car and pay some of the bills but we couldn't raise much since we were all hurting from lack of paychecks and such.

[Captain Hilts]

21. YES! Most people are UNDERinsured! A Big Ugly Secret. nt

[fascisthunter]

22. healthcare insurance industry=blood suckers

[ddeclue]

23. Thank you Captain Obvious!

[sarcasmo]

24. Back to the Top.

[redqueen]

26. K&R