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Most Driven Into Debt by Medical Bills HAVE Health Insurance
Most driven into debt and bankruptcy by medical bills have health insurance. For example, Reader's Digest notes:
Between 2000 and 2003, seven in ten adults who were driven into debt by medical expenses had insurance at the time.
Similarly, as of 2009:
More than 2.2 million California adults report having medical debt, and two-thirds
of those incurred the debt while insured, according to the authors of
"The State of Health Insurance in California (SHIC)," a comprehensive
new report from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
And as the Washington Post pointed out last year:
Sixty-two percent of all bankruptcies filed in 2007 were linked to medical expenses, according to a nationwide study released today
by the American Journal of Medicine. That's nearly 20 percentage
points higher than that pool of respondents reported were connected to
medical costs in 2001.Of those who filed for bankruptcy in 2007, nearly 80 percent had health insurance.
Why is this happening?
Above
and beyond the fact that health insurers nickel and dime everyone by
trying to exclude necessary medical care from coverage (you've heard the
horror stories), there are two additional reasons:
(1) People think that
they are covered, and so authorize more health care than they would if
they knew in advance that they would have to pay for it out of their own
pocket;and
(2) People are underinsured, and can't afford to buy an adequate level of insurance for their needs.
As
an interesting historical sidenote, the Nixon administration helped to
launch the whole HMO concept. Specifically, as Michael Moore told Democracy Now last month:
[My
researcher] found this Watergate tape—has nothing to do with
Watergate, it’s one of the Nixon tapes—at the Archives, National
Archives, where Nixon and Ehrlichman are discussing whether or not to
support this HMO concept. And Ehrlichman says to Nixon, "You’re going to
love this, because this is private enterprise. This isn’t like some
freebie thing." Nixon goes, "Oh, I like that. Tell me about it." And
then Ehrlichman says, "Well, this is how it’s going to work, these
HMOs. They’re going to make more money by providing less care. The
less care they give them, the patients, the more money the company
makes." Nixon goes, "Ooh, not bad!" And it’s all there on tape.
In
the same interview, former top Cigna health insurance executive Wendell
Potter confirmed to Democracy Now, "I do know that tape".
Note: The effect of the new health care bill on this issue is beyond the scope of this essay.
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I work my ass off and pay out of pocket 100% for good coverage because I dont want to go bankrupt if my family get sick. You sound like you are out of touch reality, maybe you want free Obama Care?
Mr. yogurtgrip:
Boy... your in for some big surprising when you or kin gets real sickened or hurts and attempt to pry what's due from that "good coverage" you 'think' to have from that healthy Insure-Aint's Co. LLc.
Ass working hard won't mean squat when you get to seeing them fellows many tricks and oft-used gimmicks in play when you needs it most.
"...out of touch (with) reality,..." you be!
HANGED DUPLICATE
One thing that would help is to have an oxcart ambulance service for gangbangers that end up shot in a turf war for drugs.
Just a suggestion....
This article is a joke. Get real, if you purchase a shit policy you deserve what you get. I have never gone a day without good coverage and know my chance of bankruptcy from sickness is less than getting struck by lightning. More data is needed to prove any point. Maybe these people have a McDonalds employee (joke of a policy) that costs them nothing.
You sound really out of touch with the reality of most families.
Tell me; are you in Congress or do you work on Wall Street?
Most Americans can not afford to pay for the Goldman Sachs free health care packages. They even pay for the gym. LOL
20% of a $200,000 bill is $40,000 - enough to push most families into bankruptcy. Not to mention that most insurance premiums and yearly deductibles amount to 10% of take home pay or more.
Insurance is a pool of money attacked by lawyers, taxation authorities, pharmaceuticals, and insurance companies themselves. The bill is simply passed down to the household.
Health "Insurance" and the entire Insurance and Medical industry is part of the asset bleeding of the middle class being perpetrated by the elites.
Add in attorney's fees, estate taxes, capital gains, lobbying and corporate campaining, and debasement of property and other rights and the picture becomes clearer.
Everything the state touches it corrupts. The medical services guild is just the latest. The something-for-nothing Boomer cohort truly believes that it can vote itself endless benefits from the young. The fuckers will ultimately receive dog food and Band-Aids.
So easy to dump on the boomers, isn't it? Let's see, most of them worked hard all their lives, paid taxes, only to find that as they hit their 60s, the Social Security system that they paid into for 40 years is endangered, the value of their house has collapsed, everything is expensive as hell, and they were swindled out of their pensions by the thieves on Wall St.
Why, in reality does Canada and Germany have better health care for the majority of their citizens than America ???
They don't have better health care, just much better access to it.
Covered or not, a catastrophic illness will break our family finances. Consequently, the 'insurance' we have is a rural lifestyle, a vegetarian diet, plenty of water, regular exercise like weightlifting & jogging, no drugs or alcohol, and quiet moments together as a family each evening. If lightning should strike, we'll reach out to the good folks in our neighborhood for help. They'll be there; we have been. And like homeschooling our kids, this is just another way we 'secede' from the system. A deep pantry, along with gold & silver bullion, is another. Of course, no man is an island; but, in an age where too many people are paid for existing and too few pay for their sins, the principle of self-reliance is a pearl of great price.
Tired of being SCREWED by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and LIED to by PRESIDENT OBAMA, BERNANKE, JAMIE DIMON and the other host of CRONIES??
Then Watch the YouTube Video “AMERICAN DREAM DEAD ~ DENIAL, THEN PANIC” at (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PFqAoqrPOs)
Anonymous-
It’s time you STOPPED getting SCREWED by the BIG RED WHITE and BLUE !!
Thank You Greenewave. Wake the Fuck up Americans. We, Americans pay more for Health Care than any other nation or country. It cost a higher percentage of GDP than any other nation. The Sad Part. We pay more and do get less and worse health care than many nations. We are Not the best providers of health care to our citizens. Look at Arizona, Death panels in progress. Reality is, CEO's of health care companies are rolling in the dough. Just like Goldman Sachs is doing God's work. NOT !!!
The "for profit" schools are no different from the "for profit" HMOs. They recruit unqualified kids to sign up for near worthless classes which funnels billions of student loan money into the "for profits' which cost 4 times that of a Community College course. Then the kids are told to take online classes without any support. After a few months, about 75% drop out. The "for profits" keep the tution money and the poor kids who didn't read or care when they signed up are left with thousands of dollars of student loans which can't be discharged in bankruptcy. The "for profits" don't give a shit about the students or the patients. Its all about the millions in YE bonuses.
State schools are no different, and now all student loans are via Uncle Sam.
Believe it. This is the headline that greeted me when I went to the ZEROHEDGE website ! I had just opened a bill from the Emergency Room @ MetroHealth. I had injured my foot very badly, went to the E.R. to get X-RAYS because I thought I'd broken a bone. Supposedly I had great insurance ! My bill was $750, insurance paid $150 ... I STILL OWE $550 !!!!! for some X-RAYS ! & yet the poorer people, the people with no insurance & the illegal immigrants who do not have resources get to go to the E.R. & get their medical needs met free. There was no such thing as health care bills when I was a kid. I remember paying $7 for a doctor's office visit in 1974. My sister still has the OB/GYN bill for her prenatal care & delivery of her oldest child ... $368 in 1969 !!!
I'M NOT PAYING IT & I'M CANCELLING MY HEALTH INSURANCE, I'LL DO LIKE IN THE OLD DAYS, WHEN I GET SICK, I DIE AT HOME IN MY BED; IF I NEED A DOCTOR, HE GETS PAID IN CHICKENS.
"people with no insurance...go to the E.R. and get their medical needs met free."
This is a popular misconception. They only get them free if they refuse to pay the bill. If you are uninsured, you will typically be charged double what the insured patients pay, in most states.
I don't have medical insurance. I recently had an MRI for a condition that my doctor feared might indicate impaired blood flow to the ocular nervous system. The bill was more than $3000 for a single MRI. That's approx. twice the going rate, and I will be paying off that padded bill on the installment plan. If I'd gone anywhere but the county hospital, I would have been refused treatment altogether.
My bill is doubled because our county hospital has a very high rate of non-payment by those who use its services. Judging by the waiting area at the E.R., most of those would be illegal immigrants.
My experience is different. I didn't have medical insurance this past year, and had to go to the E.R.. I ended up paying 1/4 of what they bill the insurance companies. Even then it was a lot. More reasonable, but still priced beyond what would be reasonable in other Countries.
So, YMMV.
@imminent
That has been my experience. The current system operates on fraud, and cost-shifting is the norm. People with "good" insurance or those that are financially "responsible" are ass-raped to pay for all of the uninsured deadbeats. If any other business tried to get away with what happens at every hospital and clinic, their officers would be in jail. Oh wait, I forgot about the big banks...
Anyway, the present system is FUBAR, and Obama's just putting a FUBAR bandaid on it.
10-4!
No, you didn't work the system.
An illegal immigrant or person without insurance who was working the system would have gone into the emergency room with a complaint that would call for an MRI (heart attack probably). If you go into an emergency room by law they have to treat you.
The illegals come and go. They don't have to pay the bill because they don't have assets for anyone to go after. They can change apartments or towns, or go back to the home country for six months.
I know someone who pays for their medical care in cash; asks for a cash discount, pays from 30%-50% less than someone with insurance.
Now, let's not pretend we're surprised by this. In my state, cost shifting is taken to an extreme, if you are insured, you pay 4X what the service costs Medicare and the uninsured. Problem is, due to the corruption of our state officials, we have ONE insurer who handles individual plans -- in a rural state where small business is the only business.
So the average deductible on insureds in this state is 15K, 45K for a family. In other words, lucky you -- you can afford insurance but not medical care, and you have the privilege of paying 4X the going rate.
And so, now, the head of the state hospital system had to admit last week that they are laying off doctors because THE INSUREDS CAN'T PAY THEIR BILLS NOW....read -- we gouged them to the point we drained them dry...
and ANTHEM (Wellpoint) is working the last dimes available for their bonus pool.
Basically, the medical system in my state -- Maine -- will more than likely collapse within two years....
but I've heard that the CEO of Wellpoint is guaranteed her bonus no matter what happens, and gets double if she destroys a state.
Recently here: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/virginia-judge-finds-obama-health-care-law-unconstitutional?page=1 I posted a link to the exact same stats in support of a truly universal healthcare system that should be the cornerstone of any civilized country, and all the thumbless morons came out to spell "socialist" as if they thought it was an insult. I came to the conclusion that Americans are dumb selfish fucks who have good reasons to distrust their own government, and they love being screwed by their health insurance. They just love getting rimmed as long as they don't have to pay so that others might live and be healthy.
The trouble is, there is nobody on this planet more politically monochromatic and simple than the average American, with the average North Korean being a close second. Somebody please tell these people that intelligence is having the ability to hold two or more opposing views in your head at the same time! Market-led capitalism: good. socialist civic projects: Good. Crony capitalism: Bad. Crony socialism: Bad. Work out the rest for yourselves.
It's getting so you can hardly read the comments without encountering some fat fuck using caps to spell "SOCIALISM" or equally worse, "CAPITALISM", as if, in their infantile tiny little cretinous experiences they are words of derision and insult, instead of merely economic/political philosophies penned by the greatest minds of the past two centuries and worth consideration in all its ugly/beautiful forms.
So are you in the Canadian government?
No...British.
He/she allowed on another thread that he/she dated a couple nurses in the NHS.
But he/she never answered me when I asked if he/she derived a check from the taxpayers of England.
Sometimes it is, what is not said, that is most important ;-)
That would explain it, thank you.
Your welcome.
"thumbless morons" "dumb selfish fucks" "monochromatic and simple" "fat fuck" "infantile tiny little cretinous"
Thank you for those gracious words, O Paragon of Tolerance.
British socialism at it's "Tawney" best...LOL.
We should be honored to have such wisdom grace us with their presence ;-)
If they can't put together an intelligent comment, just ignore them. The inability to compose an intelligent response on their part speaks volumes about how invalid a counterpoint view is.
GW is correct:
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/8083657/
Bullshit. Who is > 50 % of the US healthcare market ? Why, that would be Medicare, Medicaid, and all the states' plans. Sorry to burst your statist bubbles, healthcare suffers proportionally to the amount the government gets involved. Remove government from healthcare and health insurance re mandates and you'd see health costs plummet.
Yes, that has worked so stunningly well with HMO's, hasn't it? You might want to re-read the last part of the article again.
Mr. skippy:
"Bullshit" You be thinking rights... allright... abouts what you says.
I tells the same to these CananuckleHeads around here abouts all the times.
Why should I have to pays abouts a couple of hundreds of ma dallars / year, to da Goberments, to totally insures and take cares.
Why inf'n the old bag or any of the brats gits sicknesses or injuryied I has plenty of bandages in my own survivals kit. No need be for doc and nurse or such as hossyspitalls. Lets all just does for selfs ... nots for strangers.
F... dat other guy if'n he and his'n kin aint prepareded.
If you had any idea how imbecilic you sound with your fake redneck brogue, you'd be a suicide statistic already. What prevents you from joining the discussion in your natural voice, assuming you have one?
Folksy, Redneck sayings...
"Fuck 'em if they cannot take a joke!"
"If you don't know who everyone is laughing at... It'll be you."
"Now that's Funny... I don't care who you are."
"I'm sorry."
Don't forget the physician cartel (d.b.a. the AMA) who controls just how many people are allowed to become doctors, all while attacking homeopathic and other alternative treatments as "quackery," all in order to orchestrate control while increasing their political power.
(Rent Seeking 101)
Homeopathy is not medicine.
That is essentially the problem. Medicine in the States is anti-competitive, and has been since the government got involved with Medicare and Medicaid. That was the tipping point. Until then medical care was affordable.
All big business in the USA is anti-competitive.
Actually i think it started well before that when govt devised a system whereby people obtained their health insurance primarily from their employer. That hides the costs, ruins chances at protability and removes the consumer function from the pricing equation.
For EEs Health Insurance is a freebie that is provided at work but get fired, layed off, or too sick to work and your out of Ins. And who cares what care actually costs? I'm not payuing for it so I want it all! It's like walking into the grocery store stoned where all the food is free. I want everything and don't spare the expense!
well said
Yes, this is what happens when private enterprise takes over public resources. Costs go up. And if more money is needed, service goes down in order to make a profit.
You see the same theme over and over and over. Private Water Companies are another significant example; especially when they take the water and sell it elsewhere. Enron also comes to mind.
One would think that people would eventually get a clue. But apparently not.
Eternal student, kinda says it all......
Here's a clue. These enterprises aren't private, but are controlled by government mandates/regulations.
Before HMO's, healthcare was affordable, and private. Many small towns had doctors (today, none do), and only the doctor knew your business.
How were HMO's mandated by the government?
No goobermint regulation is telling these fine fellows to deny cover to a woman because she had a preexistent condition called "domestic abuse". Or that other because she had that so much feared "children". I wonder how many of those evil regulations are forcing those goodfellas to drop people for preexisting conditions, but well, what do I know...
True.
There are probably 5 intermediaries between me and my Doctor.
The Doctors are becoming the whores of the insurance and pharmaceutical industry.
The sell-outs rise to the top and the real Doctors are not listened to and have lost their power in the AMA and in their communities.
This is not a private/public problem, as the lust for mammon has merged the public/private dynamic into a one-bodied two-headed Hydra, intent on bleeding out any assets of the responsible middle class.