Awhile back, I mentioned that a new study showed half of personal bankruptcy in the U.S. is caused by extreme medical expenses. The Nation has gone into detail about the crisis.
"Since 2000, Harvard associate medical professors Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein, along with Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren and Ohio University sociology and anthropology professor Deborah Thorne, have been compiling data on bankruptcies in the United States. Their study, published on February 2 by the medical policy journal Health Affairs, found that between 1981 and 2001, medical-related bankruptcies increased by 2,200 percent, an astonishing explosion in a relatively short period of time. This spike far outpaced the 360 percent growth in all personal bankruptcies during roughly the same period.
In addition, the study uncovered surprising information about the affected population. While poor, uninsured Americans have long been the most obvious victims of a defective healthcare system, it's the middle class that suffers most in this case, accounting for about 90 percent of all medical bankruptcies..."
What's worse is that Republican (and conservative Democrats) are pushing bankruptcy reform that would, in fact, worsen the extreme financial situations brought on by illness.
"Republicans, and some Democrats, have long been pushing a bill that would create a means test for debtors who want to file for bankruptcy, preventing anyone who makes over the median income in their home state from filing for Chapter 7, but allowing them to file for Chapter 13. The idea, proponents say, is to make debtors take better care of their money... The bill's critics argue that it will squeeze the lower middle class right out of the system. This demographic, they say, might still earn above their state's median income, deductions notwithstanding, yet may not be able to afford to hire an attorney to prove through litigation that their story is exceptional.
Moreover, says Elizabeth Warren, there's a good chance many middle-class debtors wouldn't even be able to make Chapter 13 repayments. Nearly two-thirds of those who file for Chapter 13 aren't able to pay up, leaving them vulnerable to creditors for years, she notes."
This is why I hate Republicans, and anyone else who goes along with this plan and why everyone should. Their thinking isn't that high-cost medical bills put people into bankruptcy, it's that people haven't take "responsibility" and are trying to "freeload" off the system. It's the same old garbage on everything, just like with tort reform.
As I've said before, I'm not sure what the "correct" healthcare proposals are. But I do know it's about damn time we overhauled the system. These catastrophic costs are destroying the middle class, and any politician who wants to be their champion better fight to do something about it.
Monday, February 07, 2005
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3 comments:
Hey, I found your comment on Xanga.com, and I want to say thanks for posting. I read your first post and I must say, It's a lot mor informative than my site. I'll have to do something about that. LOL.
Thanks for joining the Liberal christians blogring, I was beginning to wonder if anybody would join. I guess I'll check back every now and then...Thanks.
Signed,
LiberalChristian aka, Otaku1
Hopefully public awareness will bring about some change. This month's People magazine actually had an article about this problem. It's a terrible tragedy that illnesses should shatter the lives of entire families.
And of course the correct solution to this is to make it HARDER to file bankruptcy, so that these morally deficient middle class-ers can't get away with daring to get emergency medical care they can't even afford with their insurance. You know what would change things quickly? Making bankruptcy EASIER. Then the corporate and political actros that get screwed over because people are dodging their absurdly high bills will have no choice but to begin looking at how to change our system over all. Of course, they have what Bushy Boy refers to as "political capital", where as you and I only have our votes and our voices, which doesn't count for much in Washington until an election.
Don't EVER let people frame the issue of bankruptcy as a moral one. No one faults a corporation for having lax "morals" when they declare bankruptcy(except maybe Enron), and no one should be allowed to do the same. These people declare bankruptcy because they have to, not because they want to, and Republicans shouldn't dare to use this as an issue for bankruptcy "reform."
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