Filing bankruptcy for medical bills accounts for nearly two out of three bankruptcies, even people with health insurance face financial disaster if they experience a serious illness, a new study shows.
The study data likely understates the full scope of the bankruptcy medical debt problem because the data were collected before the current economic crisis. In 2007, filing bankruptcy for medical bills contributed to 62.1 percent of all bankruptcies. Between 2001 and 2007, the proportion of all bankruptcies attributable to bankruptcy medical debt rose by about 50 percent.
“The U.S. health care financing system is broken, and not only for the poor and uninsured,” the study authors wrote. “Middle-class families frequently collapse under the strain of a health care system that treats physical wounds, but often inflicts fiscal ones.”
The data on bankruptcy medical bills, compiled by researchers at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University, is based on a survey of 2,314 randomly selected bankruptcy Attorneys filers.
Among families who were bankrupted by illness, those with private insurance reported average medical bills of $17,749 compared to those who were uninsured, who faced an average of $26,971 in medical costs. Those who had health insurance but lost it in the course of their illness reported average medical bills of $22,568.
Hospital costs accounted for about half the expenses (48 percent), followed by prescription drugs (18.6 percent), doctor’s bills (15.1 percent) and insurance premiums (4.1 percent). Medical equipment and nursing home care rounded out the list.
The health problems that left patients with the highest out-of-pocket expenses were ranked as follows:
Neurologic (i.e., multiple sclerosis): $34,167
Diabetes: $26,971
Injuries: 25,096
Stroke: $23,380
Mental illnesses: $23,178
Heart disease: $21,955
Bankruptcyonly provide complete information on legal largest bankruptcy attorneys that it help to filing bankruptcy attorney, with u can stop medical bills, chapter 7, chapter 13 bankruptcy foreclosure and help to rebuild your credit.More....
The study data likely understates the full scope of the bankruptcy medical debt problem because the data were collected before the current economic crisis. In 2007, filing bankruptcy for medical bills contributed to 62.1 percent of all bankruptcies. Between 2001 and 2007, the proportion of all bankruptcies attributable to bankruptcy medical debt rose by about 50 percent.
“The U.S. health care financing system is broken, and not only for the poor and uninsured,” the study authors wrote. “Middle-class families frequently collapse under the strain of a health care system that treats physical wounds, but often inflicts fiscal ones.”
The data on bankruptcy medical bills, compiled by researchers at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University, is based on a survey of 2,314 randomly selected bankruptcy Attorneys filers.
Among families who were bankrupted by illness, those with private insurance reported average medical bills of $17,749 compared to those who were uninsured, who faced an average of $26,971 in medical costs. Those who had health insurance but lost it in the course of their illness reported average medical bills of $22,568.
Hospital costs accounted for about half the expenses (48 percent), followed by prescription drugs (18.6 percent), doctor’s bills (15.1 percent) and insurance premiums (4.1 percent). Medical equipment and nursing home care rounded out the list.
The health problems that left patients with the highest out-of-pocket expenses were ranked as follows:
Neurologic (i.e., multiple sclerosis): $34,167
Diabetes: $26,971
Injuries: 25,096
Stroke: $23,380
Mental illnesses: $23,178
Heart disease: $21,955
Bankruptcyonly provide complete information on legal largest bankruptcy attorneys that it help to filing bankruptcy attorney, with u can stop medical bills, chapter 7, chapter 13 bankruptcy foreclosure and help to rebuild your credit.More....
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