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Headlines From The Washington Post
"Sick and Broke" By Elizabeth Warren
Wednesday, February 9, 2005; Page A23
Nobody's safe. That's the warning from the first large-scale
study of medical bankruptcy.
Health insurance? That didn't protect 1 million Americans who
were financially ruined by illness or medical bills last year.
A comfortable middle-class lifestyle? Good education?
Decent job? No safeguards there. Most of the medically
bankrupt were middle-class homeowners who had been to
college and had responsible jobs -- until illness struck.
As part of a research study at Harvard University, our
researchers interviewed 1,771 Americans in bankruptcy courts
across the country. To our surprise, half said that illness
or medical bills drove them to bankruptcy. So each year,
2 million Americans -- those who file and their dependents
-- face the double disaster of illness and bankruptcy.
But the bigger surprise was that three-quarters of the
medically bankrupt had health insurance.
How did illness bankrupt middle-class Americans with health
insurance? For some, high co-payments, deductibles, exclusions
from coverage and other loopholes left them holding the bag
for thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs when serious
illness struck. But even families with Cadillac coverage were
often bankrupted by medical problems.
Too sick to work, they suddenly lost their jobs. With the
jobs went most of their income and their health insurance
-- a quarter of all employers cancel coverage the day you
leave work because of a disabling illness; another quarter
do so in less than a year. Many of the medically bankrupt
qualified for some disability payments (eventually), and had
the right under the COBRA law to continue their health coverage
-- if they paid for it themselves. But how many families can
afford a $1,000 monthly premium for coverage under COBRA,
especially after the breadwinner has lost his or her job?
Often, the medical bills arrived just as the insurance and
the paycheck disappeared.
Bankrupt families lost more than just assets. One out of
five went without food. A third had their utilities shut off,
and nearly two-thirds skipped needed doctor or dentist visits.
These families struggled to stay out of bankruptcy. They
arrived at the bankruptcy courthouse exhausted and emotionally
spent, brought low by a health care system that could offer
physical cures but that left them financially devastated.
Many in Congress have a response to the problem of the
growing number of medical bankruptcies: make it harder for
families to file bankruptcy regardless of the reason for
their financial troubles. Bankruptcy legislation -- widely
known as the credit industry wish list -- has been introduced
yet again to increase costs and decrease protection for every
family that turns to the bankruptcy system for help. With the
dramatic rise in medical bankruptcies now documented, this
tired approach would be no different than a congressional
demand to close hospitals in response to a flu epidemic. Making
bankruptcy harder puts the fallout from a broken health care
system back on families, leaving them with no escape.
The problem is not in the bankruptcy laws. The problem is in
the health care finance system and in chronic debates about
reforming it. The Harvard study shows:
- Health insurance isn't an on-off switch, giving full protection to everyone who has it. There is real coverage and there is faux coverage. Policies that can be canceled when you need them most are often useless. So is bare-bones coverage like the Utah Medicaid program pioneered by new Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt; it pays for primary care visits but not specialists or hospital care. We need to talk about quality, durable coverage, not just about how to get more names listed on nearly-useless insurance policies.
- The link between jobs and health insurance is strained beyond the breaking point. A harsh fact of life in America is that illness leads to job loss, and that can mean a double kick when people lose their insurance. Promising them high-priced coverage through COBRA is meaningless if they can't afford to pay. Comprehensive health insurance is the only real solution, not just for the poor but for middle-class Americans as well.
Without better coverage, millions more Americans will be hit
by medical bankruptcy over the next decade. It will not be
limited to the poorly educated, the barely employed or the
uninsured. The people financially devastated by a serious
illness are at the heart of the middle class.
Every 30 seconds in the United States, someone files for
bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem.
Time is running out. A broken health care system is
bankrupting families across this country.
The writer is a law professor at Harvard University.
Discussion
Elizabeth is to be commended for the fine article above which deals with so many of the problems associated with our health delivery system today. During my last days in the Radiology Department I had become increasingly concerned that we weren't doing something right for the vast majority of so many sick people. I was seeing more advanced disease earlier and earlier in life. You could never convince me that we have extended the "useful" lifespan of anyone. In fact I don't think now that the lifespan is extended anyway. I saw way too many young women in their forties die of breast cancer and many men of similar age with advanced heart and carotid vascular disease.
Becoming proactive
You could just wait until you get ill, lose your mortgage and house, file bankruptcy and try to pay your medical bills with your credit cards or ... you can adopt your own life and health insurance plan. By taking an active part in your own health and learning what you can, you can seriously reduce your risk for "wallet" threatening disease. Getting sick is bad enough without having to be broke, out of your job and your house. Get good insurance, health insurance and also while you are at it -some proactive quality of life insurance. The MericleDiet will reduce your risk for disease about as much as it can be reduced.
The MericleDiet "Quality of Life Insurance Policy"
While health insurance costs in the hundred of dollars per month and catastrophic health care costs in the thousands per month -The MericleDiet and the information associated with it is a real bargain at less than $100.
Thanks for your time and your attention.
Copyright © John Mericle M.D. D.A.B.R. 2000-2011 All Rights Reserved
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- exercise myth
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- glucagon and aging
where the sugar freeway ends ...page 38
- high fructose corn syrup
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- energy metabolism101
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- The Dangers of Sports Non-nutrition
Seven Days of Great Tasting Vegan Meals
- a different kind of potato salad
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select articles ...page 125
- Complications of Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery
- Chunky Cole Slaw
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- Fats (triacylglycerols) and Essential Fatty Acids
- He Shou Wu
- Hypertension
- Hypertension II
- 14 Simple Things To Reduce Your Risk of Breast Cancer
- Osteoporosis
- What Really Causes Osteoporosis
- Macular Degeneration
- olive oil chest pain in a bottle
- Why Organic
- rugrat ... Lymphoma -The Dangers of New Carpet
- Your Stomach Knows Best The Dangers of Sports Nutrition
- Vitamin C
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