62 Percent of Personal Bankruptcies were because of Medical Debts
That is just ridiculous. In a CNN article by Stephanie Smith posted October 13, 2009, Ms. Smith quotes a study from the American Journal of Medicine that found that 62% of bankruptcies in 2007 were a result of medical debt compared to 8% in 1981. If that is not reason enough for health care reform, I do not know what is.
To live in one of the greatest countries and to have that statistic is embarrassing. I am sure that the 62% of bankruptcies were hard working individuals that could not afford their insurance premiums due to the continuous rise of said premiums. As insurance companies are making record profits, the injured, sick, unprotected individual is suffering and taking on a debt that he can't refuse. What is his/her choice, not to treat the cancer? not to remove the appendix? just die.
I pray that our government can come together in this time to find a solution so that we as a country can brag to the rest of the world that we do have the best health care system and not have statistics such as the one above. And for all those out there that that believe that we need medical malpractice reform, show me the hard data that directly correlates medical malpractice to insurance premiums. Oh yeah, and I would like that data from a source that is not the insurance companies or the many organizations insurance companies retain come up with such false data.
