A new Harvard study of bankruptcy cases shows medical bills and illnesses are a major cause of roughly half of this country's personal bankruptcies, according to the study published today on the Web site of the journal Health Affairs.
Touted as the first in-depth analysis of medical causes of bankruptcy, the study looked at 1,771 court records of people who filed for bankruptcy in 2001 in five federal districts, including one in Illinois. More than half of those bankruptcy filers were interviewed in detail about their finances and health. The researchers determined that 46.2 percent to 54.5 percent of the nearly 1.5 million personal bankruptcy filings in 2001 could be chalked up, in large part, to medical problems.
The researchers estimated that some 40,168 of Illinois' 79,777 personal bankruptcies last year were medical bankruptcies, affecting 111,544 debtors and their families.
The study found that the majority of medical bankruptcy filers nationwide were middle-class homeowners with some college education. They usually had health insurance, too. More than 75 percent of people in medical bankruptcy were insured when they first got sick. Courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times 2/2/05
Bonnie - This is a very scary and disappointing statistic. This should not be happening in the United States. The one way we can keep this trend from continuing is to take your health into your own hands, WITH PREVENTION!
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