Health Care BS

Comments 1

1. C M Hughes, MD wrote:

   Himmelstein, et. al., have a full response. Here is the abstract for those who can’t get the full text:

   http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/25/2/w84
   “David Dranove and Michael Millenson seem determined to deny that financial fallout from illness pushes middle-class families into bankruptcy. Anxious to erase the headline that three-quarters of U.S. medical bankrupts had health insurance at the onset of their illnesses and the resulting spotlight on inadequate coverage and insurance cancellation practices, they ignore most of our data and misrepresent the rest. They dismiss families’ explanations of their difficulties and blame those ruined by illness for their own problems. However, the data from the bankruptcy courts are undeniable. Bankruptcies affect mainly middle-class, privately insured families, and about half are triggered, at least in part, by illnesses. ”

   And another response:

   “Medical bankruptcy, whatever its actual frequency, is an extreme example of a much broader phenomenon. Medical debt is surprisingly common, affecting about twenty-nine million nonelderly adult Americans, with and without health insurance. The presence of medical debt, even for the insured, appears to create health care access barriers akin to those faced by the uninsured. Policymakers, researchers, and medical providers should consider medical debt a risk factor for reduced health access and poorer health status. Simply reducing the number of uninsured Americans would be a hollow policy victory if the problems arising from medical debt persist. ”
   Full text:
   http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/25/2/w89

   Cheers,

   Posted 08 Oct 2007 at 7:03 pm ¶

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