Take away the political posturing, the fights between the Republicans and the Democrats and the Tea Party, forget about your views on the new health care legislation and whether it was/is a good idea or whatever. Put away your hate and confusion, and forget about whether you think this is right or this is wrong, in fact put aside your thoughts on the matter at all.
And consider this.
In 2007, over 62% of the bankruptcies in America could directly be attributable to health care. Nearly 80% of those people had insurance. But their average expenses were just under $18,000.00 (some less, and of course, some much, much more). Of the people who did not have insurance and filed bankruptcy related to health care expenses, their average medical bills were nearly $27000.00 (some less and some much, much more).
This is all according to a study by the American Journal of Medicine. The authors of the study, David Himmelstein, Deborah Thorne, Elizabeth Warren And Steffie Woolhandler say that their findings reflect that the ?U.S. health care financing system is broken?.
See the study here.
Take note that….
*62.1% of all bankruptcies have a medical
cause
* Most medical debtors were well educated
and middle class; three quarters
had health insurance.
* The share of bankruptcies attributable
to medical problems rose by 50% between
2001 and 2007
