Study Shows Illnesses, Medical Bills Account for About Half of Bankruptcies

A new study, conducted by researchers Harvard University, shows that "costly illnesses" cause about half of bankruptcies. The researchers were from the law and medical schools at Harvard. They said that these results show the inadequacy of the private insurance system. These insurance companies do offer coverage for the "worst case castrophic coverage," but do not offer coverage for less severe illnesses. Dr. DavidHimmelstein, the study's lead author and an associate professor of medicine said, "Unless you're Bill Gates, you're just one serious illness away from bankruptcy." The study was distributed to 1,771 bankruptcy filers in California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas, in 2001.

In the study 46.2% of the causes of bankruptcies were medical bills. That figure rose to 54.5% when other factors were added. The study also estimates that health-related bankruptcies affect around 2 million people a year. Most people filing the bankruptcies did have insurance before the onset of the illness. You can read this story at http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110729735855242879,00.html?mod=health%5Fhs%5Fhealth%5Fproviders%5Finsurance.

After reading this article, this finding did not surprise me. Medical expenses are so high right now, and when the insurance providers do not allow for the right coverage, bills add up. My dad is a lawyer, and he has seen a lot of bankruptcies related to medical bills come through his office. My question to you, is after reading the summary I provided or the article itself, does this finding surprise you? What do you think can be done in order to correct this problem? Is this just something that comes along with having a good health care system?