What if we exempted medical bills from bankruptcy? The US is the only country of our economic peers that lets its citizens go bankrupt over medical bills.
Of the people who file for bankruptcy, over 75% have insurance. Just not enough.
Think of it. If you have cancer and need a bone marrow transplant, that's $250,000. If you have the standard 80-20 plan; that's $50,000 of your money. How many people have that lying around in spare change?
And it is not as if there are foundations out there to help with this. I once asked a major international cancer treatment center that has a large and well funded foundation what they do when people come who are uninsured or underinsured?
Their answer chilled me--"we give them fundraising packages to help them raise money in their community."
Welcome to American health care--you can be insured, sick and vulnerable--and you get to bankrupt too.
More later, Kathleen
What if we exempted medical bills from bankruptcy? The US is the only country of our economic peers that lets its citizens go bankrupt over medical bills.
Of the people who file for bankruptcy, over 75% have insurance. Just not enough.
Think of it. If you have cancer and need a bone marrow transplant, that's $250,000. If you have the standard 80-20 plan; that's $50,000 of your money. How many people have that lying around in spare change?
And it is not as if there are foundations out there to help with this. I once asked a major international cancer treatment center that has a large and well funded foundation what they do when people come who are uninsured or underinsured?
Their answer chilled me--"we give them fundraising packages to help them raise money in their community."
Welcome to American health care--you can be insured, sick and vulnerable--and you get to bankrupt too.
More later, Kathleen