My friend of twenty years will soon declare medical bankruptcy. I write this post today because there is nothing I can do to help her; nothing I can do but write. There is nothing she can do. She had insurance. She paid her premiums. She pre-authorized her surgery with her insurance provider. She underwent surgery. Her doctor removed a damaged organ that stopped the severe pain she was suffering and in the process found a multitude of pre-cancerous cells. (In other words the surgery most likely saved her life).
Her insurance company will not pay a cent. Though she is one of the most financially responsible, dollar stretching, only use a credit card when absolutely necessary people I know, she cannot both pay the tens of thousands of dollars of medical bills and keep paying her mortgage and basic life needs expenditures. Bankruptcy looms before her like a black hole.
The over two million Americans who are in medical bankruptcy and those drowning in medical debt who soon will be, are in need of a bail out- yesterday! These Americans are not just the uninsured, they are also the insured. They are not only people of little income but people of middle income.
Medical bankruptcy differs from regular bankruptcy only by the word “medical”, which simply states the reason for having to declare it. There is no mercy for the “medical”- no mercy for being sick, injured, disabled; no mercy for dying. All that matters is that a person can’t pay the doctor or the hospital bills and afford their rent/ mortgage and basic life needs.
Hospitals and doctor’s offices not long ago allowed approximately a year and a half before sending an account to collections. Today delinquent accounts can be sent not only to collections, but to small claims court, in a few months time. Rare now, are the doctors and hospitals who are willing (or financially able) to set up payment plans, in which patients agree to pay what they can afford monthly over a set period of time.
Doctors, hospitals, medical facilities are struggling financially as well and consequently have less room to give financial lead way to their patients. Their expenditures have soared due to astronomic malpractice insurance premiums, a rise in their operating costs that double the rate of inflation, and patients who cannot afford to pay them. It is a vicious cycle, in which insurance companies profit, doctors and hospitals lose and the sick, the injured, and the dying suffer most (as if being sick, injured or dying isn’t enough suffering enough).
Another merciless act of our system is excluding those with preexisting conditions from acquiring medical insurance. The sick cannot get medical insurance unless they have the insurance before they get sick. The sick, the poor, the dying (the one’s we are supposed to be caring for)…are being smashed under the ruble of profit heavy insurance companies.
Caring for the sick and injured through a national healthcare system is not Socialism (as some suggest these days); it is providing the right to health, to life and to the easing of physical pain of our citizens. I love my country but I am ashamed of our medical system and the suffering it adds to the lives of too many Americans.
*Advice (unprofessional Kerry advice):
- Read the small print of an insurance company’s policy over and over again and believe what you read.
-Disclose even the smallest, most insignificant health blip you’ve experienced, or it can be used to deny you coverage after you owe. Here’s the heck of it-if you disclose it, they will deny you coverage.
- If an insurance company’s premiums seem too good to be true, they most likely are. There are still decent and just insurance companies out there, but often they are the most expensive, and affordable to few.
References:
Medical bills swamping even insured folks–LA Times health blog (Susan Brink)
Bankruptcy and Medical Debt–BCS Alliance.com
Health insurance costs-NCHC
My friend in the thick of this mess
