Health costs lurk behind middle-class bankruptcies
Medical bills and gaps in health coverage are wreaking havoc on the finances of the middle class, say researchers who analyzed the bankruptcies of thousands of Americans.
Health issues were a factor in 62.1 percent of personal bankruptcies in 2007, finds a study just published online by the American Journal of Medicine.
But what criteria led authors Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, outspoken advocates for a single-payer health care in this country, and their colleagues to classify someone’s bankruptcy as a medical one?
Well, it’s a long list and one to think about when evaluating or citing the results. So (deep breath), here goes:
- The person had to say that “illness, injury or medical bills” was the specific reason for bankruptcy; or,
- Uncovered medical bills exceeded $5,000 or 10 percent of family income; or,
- The filer or spouse lost two or more weeks of work-related income due to injury or illness; or,
- The person tapped home equity to pay medical bills.
Whew!
What to do? The authors stop short of calling for a federal takeover of health coverage in the paper, but say, pointedly, that “medical impoverishment” is “almost unheard of” in other rich countries. A key difference, they write, is that those other places have some sort of national health insurance.
Speaking of money, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded the work.
Comments
Please read our blog commenting policies.
-
Join us in Atlanta
for Health Journalism 2012
Fellowship applications
due Feb. 27
New at HealthJournalism.org
- Data gives depth to investigation of patient safety
- What reporters should know about Alzheimer’s and related dementias
- Apply for fellowships to attend Health Journalism 2012
- AHCJ asks Supreme Court to permit broadcast of arguments in health reform case
- Tips for print, online journalists to embrace broadcast opportunities
- Numbers reveal how often, or how rarely, states check doctors’ disciplinary records
- How I did it: Falsified charts in nursing homes linked to patient care
- Access Denied: Looking at a lack of health care availability
- Transparency & medical errors: Public reporting of patient harm is a potent force
