Headlines around the web[1] are reporting that a recent study(Feb. 2005) by Harvard University[2] noted that medical bills accounted for 62% of bankruptcies.
This curious tidbit is not new,nor other problems with Insurance based Health care. From The National Coalition on Health Care [3] comes these nuggets:
Health care spending is 4.3 times the amount spent on national defense.
The annual premium that a health insurer charges an employer for a health plan covering a family of four averaged $12,700 in 2008. Workers contributed nearly $3,400,or 12 percent more than they did in 2007.2 The annual premiums for family coverage significantly eclipsed the gross earnings for a full-time,minimum-wage worker ($10,712).
According to a recent report,the United States has $480 billion in excess spending each year in comparison to Western European nations that have universal health insurance coverage. The costs are mainly associated with excess administrative costs and poorer quality of care.
Politicians are staging themselves around Health Care. This is political posturing. Everyone of these folks that is saying Health Care,really mean Health Coverage because they all have a large insurance company stick rammed up their ass. The only efficencies that are currently in the insurace industry is how fast they can deny your claim,exclude treatment and therefore payment,or use recission on your ass to just not pay at all.
The insurance industry should be the absolute the last group invited into any discussion about health care. When 62% of bankruptcies are related to medical bills,and 78% of them had health insurance,maybe you might want to think about why universal health care is a better idea.
[1] Google Search ‘Harvard University bankruptcies medical expenses’
[2] Harvard University Bankruptcy Paper –Final Manuscript (PDF)
[3] National Coalition on Health Care Health Insurance Costs