Defend Your Health Care

[toomuchtime_]

Medical bills underlie 60 percent of U.S. bankrupts: study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Medical bills are behind more than 60 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday in a report they said demonstrates that healthcare reform is on the wrong track.

More than 75 percent of these bankrupt families had health insurance but still were overwhelmed by their medical debts, the team at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University reported in the American Journal of Medicine.

"Unless you're Warren Buffett, your family is just one serious illness away from bankruptcy," Harvard's Dr. David Himmelstein, an advocate for a single-payer health insurance program for the United States, said in a statement.

"For middle-class Americans, health insurance offers little protection," he added.

CANCELED COVERAGE

"Nationally, a quarter of firms cancel coverage immediately when an employee suffers a disabling illness; another quarter do so within a year," the report reads.

Medical bills underlie 60 percent of U.S. bankrupts: study | U.S. | Reuters

It is unclear that this study, which can be found here

http://www.pnhp.org/new_bankruptcy_study/Bankruptcy-2009.pdf

has any relevance to the health insurance debate since it calls bankruptcies that resulted from a loss of income due to illness medical bankruptcies as well as those that resulted from medical bills.

We designated bankruptcies as “medical” based on debtors’ stated
reasons for filing, income loss due to illness, and the magnitude of their medical debts.

In fact, in table 2, it shows that while 29% of debtors reported the cause of bankruptcy was medical bills, 40.3% reported the cause to be loss of income because of the illness. None of the bills under consideration would help the latter group avoid bankruptcy.

Furthermore, the statement, "Nationally, a quarter of firms cancel coverage immediately when an employee suffers a disabling illness; another quarter do so within a year," appears nowhere in the study.

 

[Skull Pilot]

The researchers studied 2,134 random families who filed for bankruptcy between January and April in 2007, before the current recession began.
They used public bankruptcy court records and surveyed 1,032 people by telephone.

"Using a conservative definition, 62.1 percent of all bankruptcies in 2007 were medical; 92 percent of these medical debtors had medical debts over $5,000, or 10 percent of pretax family income," the researchers wrote.

"Most medical debtors were well-educated, owned homes and had middle-class occupations."

The researchers, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said the share of bankruptcies that could be blamed on medical problems rose by 50 percent from 2001 to 2007.




so if this was before the current GOP recession you can imagine how bad it is now after they fucked things up for 8 years! .... some reform might be on the way if they would stop saying no and lying.

keep trying

posting the same shit over and over is not going to make your point any more useful.

the studyi quoted was more thorough period

and what does the GOP have to do with anything?

and really wtf do you care if you're supposed to be a Cafuck, I mean canuck?

does anyone else think that this idiot sounds like Sealybutthead?

 

[Jay Canuck]

as much as it must pain you and the insurance gang that 29% might be helped.

 

[Skull Pilot]

as much as it must pain you and the insurance gang that 29% might be helped.

29% of who and from what a law (bankruptcy) that allows them to get away from crushing debt and start over?

My god.

FYI filing bankruptcy is not a life threatening situation.

Why don't you worry about the 15% of Canadian seniors who file for bankruptcy?

 

[Jay Canuck]

Medical bills underlie 60 percent of U.S. bankrupts: study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Medical bills are behind more than 60 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday in a report they said demonstrates that healthcare reform is on the wrong track.

More than 75 percent of these bankrupt families had health insurance but still were overwhelmed by their medical debts, the team at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University reported in the American Journal of Medicine.

"Unless you're Warren Buffett, your family is just one serious illness away from bankruptcy," Harvard's Dr. David Himmelstein, an advocate for a single-payer health insurance program for the United States, said in a statement.

"For middle-class Americans, health insurance offers little protection," he added.

CANCELED COVERAGE

"Nationally, a quarter of firms cancel coverage immediately when an employee suffers a disabling illness; another quarter do so within a year," the report reads.

Medical bills underlie 60 percent of U.S. bankrupts: study | U.S. | Reuters

It is unclear that this study, which can be found here

http://www.pnhp.org/new_bankruptcy_study/Bankruptcy-2009.pdf

has any relevance to the health insurance debate since it calls bankruptcies that resulted from a loss of income due to illness medical bankruptcies as well as those that resulted from medical bills.

We designated bankruptcies as “medical” based on debtors’ stated
reasons for filing, income loss due to illness, and the magnitude of their medical debts.

In fact, in table 2, it shows that while 29% of debtors reported the cause of bankruptcy was medical bills, 40.3% reported the cause to be loss of income because of the illness. None of the bills under consideration would help the latter group avoid bankruptcy.

Furthermore, the statement, "Nationally, a quarter of firms cancel coverage immediately when an employee suffers a disabling illness; another quarter do so within a year," appears nowhere in the study.

"Nationally, a quarter of firms cancel coverage immediately when an employee suffers a disabling illness; another quarter do so within a year," the report reads.

so because the didn't print that part of the report it's not true?

 

[Jay Canuck]

as much as it must pain you and the insurance gang that 29% might be helped.

29% of who and from what a law (bankruptcy) that allows them to get away from crushing debt and start over?

My god.

FYI filing bankruptcy is not a life threatening situation.

Why don't you worry about the 15% of Canadian seniors who file for bankruptcy?

because 15% of seniors in Canada doesn't come even close to 29% of the overall U.S. population....but I appreciate you trying to make your problems look way less worse than they are for your corporate masters.

 

[Skull Pilot]

as much as it must pain you and the insurance gang that 29% might be helped.

29% of who and from what a law (bankruptcy) that allows them to get away from crushing debt and start over?

My god.

FYI filing bankruptcy is not a life threatening situation.

Why don't you worry about the 15% of Canadian seniors who file for bankruptcy?

because 15% of seniors in Canada doesn't come even close to 29% of the overall U.S. population....but I appreciate you trying to make your problems look way less worse than they are for your corporate masters.

But you're canadian or are supposed to be.

we don't care what you think So go eat some bacon and doughnuts and get on a canadian message board

Sealybooboo

 

[toomuchtime_]

Medical bills underlie 60 percent of U.S. bankrupts: study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Medical bills are behind more than 60 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday in a report they said demonstrates that healthcare reform is on the wrong track.

More than 75 percent of these bankrupt families had health insurance but still were overwhelmed by their medical debts, the team at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University reported in the American Journal of Medicine.

"Unless you're Warren Buffett, your family is just one serious illness away from bankruptcy," Harvard's Dr. David Himmelstein, an advocate for a single-payer health insurance program for the United States, said in a statement.

"For middle-class Americans, health insurance offers little protection," he added.

CANCELED COVERAGE

"Nationally, a quarter of firms cancel coverage immediately when an employee suffers a disabling illness; another quarter do so within a year," the report reads.

Medical bills underlie 60 percent of U.S. bankrupts: study | U.S. | Reuters

It is unclear that this study, which can be found here

http://www.pnhp.org/new_bankruptcy_study/Bankruptcy-2009.pdf

has any relevance to the health insurance debate since it calls bankruptcies that resulted from a loss of income due to illness medical bankruptcies as well as those that resulted from medical bills.

We designated bankruptcies as “medical” based on debtors’ stated
reasons for filing, income loss due to illness, and the magnitude of their medical debts.

In fact, in table 2, it shows that while 29% of debtors reported the cause of bankruptcy was medical bills, 40.3% reported the cause to be loss of income because of the illness. None of the bills under consideration would help the latter group avoid bankruptcy.

Furthermore, the statement, "Nationally, a quarter of firms cancel coverage immediately when an employee suffers a disabling illness; another quarter do so within a year," appears nowhere in the study.

"Nationally, a quarter of firms cancel coverage immediately when an employee suffers a disabling illness; another quarter do so within a year," the report reads.

so because the didn't print that part of the report it's not true?

You linked to a news article about the study and I linked to the study itself. The statement, "Nationally, a quarter of firms cancel coverage immediately when an employee suffers a disabling illness; another quarter do so within a year," does not appear in the study, as the news article claimed it did, so intentionally or not, the news article was inaccurate. Furthermore, the news article suggests that medical bills were the cause of all the medical bankruptcies, but the study clearly states that loss of income due to illness was responsible for more medical bankruptcies than medical bills, so it is unclear what relevance this study has to the health insurance debate since none of the bills under consideration deals with loss of income due to illness.

If you read the study, it will become clear to you that the news article is full of misinformation about it.

 

[Skull Pilot]

Thanks Skull Pilot, I know you are looking at this bill objectively. I was hoping for an answer from this OneWorld character.

The government "approved" plan, what exactly are they going to look like, and how expensive is it going to be?
Or is this really a provision to eventually get everyone on the federal plan by making it impossible for private insurers to compete with the subsidized federal plan?

no, skull is NOT explaining it correctly at all and intentionally misleading you imho...

if you lose your job, you can go to your state's Insurance Exhange where every insurance company offering insurance in your state has to list the contents of all policies they offer, along with good comparable charts so you can choose which one to go with, along with a public option that you may wish to go with, or continue with the policy you have...

the insurance policy of any of the private sector companies along with the public policy have to have the measures listed above in them or they are not qualified plans...insurance companies on the whole have agreed to these measures...all, except they don't want a public option as competition....

skull, is worried because he does not have insurance that would qualify because it is only for catastrophes and does not have the measures to make it a qualified plan....so he thinks he could be penalized for not having a qualified plan...

i think he will find that if he wants to continue with this type of coverage with his HSA, he will probably be able to, without penalty...at least for 5 more years....

care

I am quoting the bill's language and you say I am misleading you?

SEC. 102. PROTECTING THE CHOICE TO KEEP CURRENT
2 COVERAGE.
3 (a) GRANDFATHERED HEALTH INSURANCE COV
4ERAGE DEFINED.—Subject to the succeeding provisions of
5 this section, for purposes of establishing acceptable cov
6erage under this division, the term ‘‘grandfathered health
7 insurance coverage’’ means individual health insurance
8 coverage that is offered and in force and effect before the
9 first day of Y1 if the following conditions are met:
10 (1) LIMITATION ON NEW ENROLLMENT.—
11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in
12 this paragraph, the individual health insurance
13 issuer offering such coverage does not enroll
14 any individual in such coverage if the first ef
15fective date of coverage is on or after the first
16 day of Y1.
17 (B) DEPENDENT COVERAGE PER18
MITTED.—Subparagraph (A) shall not affect
19 the subsequent enrollment of a dependent of an
20 individual who is covered as of such first day.
21 (2) LIMITATION ON CHANGES IN TERMS OR
22 CONDITIONS.—Subject to paragraph (3) and except
23 as required by law, the issuer does not change any
24 of its terms or conditions, including benefits and
25 cost-sharing, from those in effect as of the day be26
fore the first day of Y1.

As you can see there are limitations on the grandfather clause.

So even if your plan is grandfathered in, it will most likely be deemed unacceptable because chances are there will be minor changes to your policy.

it doesn't matter if you like or want those changes, all that matters is that the government deems it unacceptable.

And what happens if you have unacceptable insureance?

‘‘Subpart A—Tax on Individuals Without Acceptable
17 Health Care Coverage
‘‘Sec. 59B. Tax on individuals without acceptable health care coverage.
18 ‘‘SEC. 59B. TAX ON INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT ACCEPTABLE
19 HEALTH CARE COVERAGE.
20 ‘‘(a) TAX IMPOSED.—In the case of any individual
21 who does not meet the requirements of subsection (d) at
22 any time during the taxable year, there is hereby imposed
23 a tax equal to 2.5 percent of the excess of—
VerDate Nov 24 2008 12:51 Jul 14, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00167 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\TEMP\AAHCA0~1.XML HOLCPC
July 14, 2009 (12:51 p.m.)
F:\P11\NHI\TRICOMM\AAHCA09_001.XML
f:\VHLC\071409\071409.140.xml (444390|2)
168
1 ‘‘(1) the taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross in
2come for the taxable year, over
3 ‘‘(2) the amount of gross income specified in
4 section 6012(a)(1) with respect to the taxpayer.
5 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.—
6 ‘‘(1) TAX LIMITED TO AVERAGE PREMIUM.—
7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The tax imposed
8 under subsection (a) with respect to any tax
9payer for any taxable year shall not exceed the
10 applicable national average premium for such
11 taxable year.
12 ‘‘(B) APPLICABLE NATIONAL AVERAGE
13 PREMIUM.—
14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of
15 subparagraph (A), the ‘applicable national
16 average premium’ means, with respect to
17 any taxable year, the average premium (as
18 determined by the Secretary, in coordina19
tion with the Health Choices Commis
20sioner) for self-only coverage under a basic
21 plan which is offered in a Health Insur
22ance Exchange for the calendar year in
23 which such taxable year begins.

So care you see that I am not making this shit up.