medical debt in the US

Found this not-too-astonishing article about the "for profit" healthcare system
here in the land of the burdened, home of the sick. After an accidental ladder mishap,
I found out Medicare does not cover the incidentals. So on the card it goes ..

roughly a quarter of adults (in the US) now owe more than $5000 in health care debt

“…about 1 in 5 with any amount of debt said they don’t expect to ever pay it off.”

U.S. citizens amassed an estimated $195 billion, at least, in collective medical debt.

(2019 fed data)

“Debt is no longer just a bug in our system. It is one of the main products. We have a health care system almost perfectly designed to create debt.”

From Jesse Ventura's Die First Then Quit

https://jesseventura.substack.com/p/let-debt-be-thy-medicine

And yet congress can give $850 Billion of our tax dollars to the MIC

Oooh this makes me angry ..

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While France has virtually no healthcare-related bankruptcies, about half a million Americans file for bankruptcy every year because of medical bills. These and many more medical bankruptcies statistics reveal the shocking effect of the soaring US healthcare costs.

US medical bills and indebtedness are responsible for 66.5% of all American personal insolvencies.

On average, Americans spend about $10,000 a year on healthcare costs.

“For middle-class Americans, health insurance offers little protection. Most of us have policies with so many loopholes, copayments, and deductibles that illness can put you in the poorhouse.

More than half of all Americans think medical treatments cause more problems instead of solving them.

Just how safe do you feel?

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Lookout's picture

isn't about health it is (as you say) about profit. I try to stay away from our medical system, but hey sometimes you have to go in for issues.

Hope you're healing well.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

for bones to heal
patience to stay off your feet
and money to pay for repairs
most of which I have little,
but thanks

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QMS. There is much to say about this subject, it is truly a national tragedy (among all the other tragedies) How in the world did we get here? It is beyond absurd.

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A book written by a Peace Corps volunteer about a Chinese town when Map's revolution roared through. They had been selling their daughters to (American) brothels to pay off their Fathers' debts on his death. They also found out that the landlord they all owed was himself inescapably in debt.

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On to Biden since 1973

were destroyed by medical bills, starting in 1990, to 1998. I could have been sitting on in excess of 2 million bucks, but by February 3, 1998, my husbands illness got me down to $187.23. My Mom brought be some groceries, the light and phone companies said they would give me time to catch up, my secretary worked for no pay, knowing I would get her caught up asap. My office rental landlord told me to get out or be evicted, although I was not in arrears, so I was broke, no office, meeting clients in the courthouse. This went on for months.
I couldn't pay that remaining $145,000 owed to one hospital, told them I intended to keep my $187.23 cents to use as the filing fee to sue the hospital for killing my late husband. I would have sued them for malpractice, but I promised my husband I would not do that, but just let it go, go find a new life and be happy. I kept my promise, and I did exactly what he wished. New life, extreme happiness!
They wrote it off to charity.
I am perfectly ok and have been for 20 years, but have never built back up a retirement account that would guarantee I would not suffer a drop in standard of living if I stopped working. Now that inflation is out of control, I will likely work until I die.
This has nothing to do with me goofing off money, making mistakes, but everything to do with the medical and insurance system robbing me of a husband back then, and a life as an elder I worked hard to live.
Maybe the most hateful thing Hillary ever said was that we will never have universal healthcare. I dislike, avoid hate. I HATE her for that,and everybody else who keeps this system in place. It is cruel beyond measure.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Cassiodorus's picture

-- good, honest, hardworking people -- 10:11 of this video

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"I'm starting to believe that they want Donald Trump to get elected." -- Compton Jay

Cassiodorus's picture

in which we are all obliged to participate in "markets" if we wish to see a doctor. See my previous diary.

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"I'm starting to believe that they want Donald Trump to get elected." -- Compton Jay