A fact that I read recently really troubled me. It troubled me because I felt for these people who had to claim bankruptcy, one of the most emotionally devastating things anyone has to do in their lives, which can destroy relationships and ultimately create depression and unhappiness, had to file it because their medical bills were sinking them to a point where they couldn’t pay them any more, or couldn’t pay their other bills because their medical bills were too numerous. This, in the land of opportunity and what is supposed to be one of the richest places in the world, economically speaking, is a travesty.
This really shows that our health system is in desperate need of an overhaul, and that Americans are being fleeced if they become seriously ill, so much so that they cannot even continue to pay their bills or have the same quality of life they had before they got sick, because of the heavy burden of thousands of dollars in bills that come from hospitals, testing facilities, medications and all the other stuff that goes with keeping a person healthy or treating a disease and preventing them from dying in the modern medical world.
While we often mistakenly think of bankruptcy as a last resort for people who have mismanaged their money of overspent on items they did not absolutely need, this enlightens us that the majority – over fifty percent, is through no fault of their own, only that they are trying to take care of their health and have maybe been struck with an unfortunate illness which requires a lot of expensive medical care and follow up. Diagnosing and treating disease is positively cost prohibitive and astronomical these days.
Even if you have good health insurance, you can find yourself with thousands of dollars in doctors bills if you have had a bout with a serious illness. So much for the American dream of getting a house and spending it on things that keep the economy going. I think that if the Obama administration can address this problem of horrible health care, then maybe it can have an economically healing effect.
