According to a study conducted jointly between Harvard Medical School and Harvard Law School, of the 1,584,170 million who filed personal bankruptcy last year, half of them did so because they were unable to pay for medical expenses. The study indicates that this is the case even though most of the people had health insurance when they became ill. The study will be published today in the online edition of Health Affairs.
Researchers studied bankruptcy filers in five states - California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas. 1,771 records were reviewed, and 931 of these people were interviewed. The situation was the same in all five states. Nearly half of the people told the researchers that the reason they were forced to file bankruptcy was that they could not pay their medical bills.
Most had medical bills over $1,000 and the average out-of-pocket expense was $11,854. Many had taken second mortgages on their homes.
Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, one of the authors of the study was surprised to find that 76 percent of the people they interviewed had health insurance when their illness began. 'That's really new. No one has asked that before,' she said.
Certainly, this study exposes the ongoing problems with the nation's health care system, specifically the problems facing those without insurance. But this study shows that even those families considered to be middle class were unable to handle an unexpected illness or injury and the financial burden that this places on their families.
When a person who is employed gets sick and can no longer work, he or she loses health coverage. Woolhandler said the study exposes gaps in the country's health insurance system, as well as the plight of the uninsured. Even middle class families filed for bankruptcy because of medical debt.
People who had health insurance when they got sick often became too sick to work and lost their coverage. Others discovered that there were certain gaps in their coverage and were forced to pay out-of-pocket for medication, physical therapy and other expenses.
