3 ms·

Given that over half a million families file medical bankruptcies in the United States annually, I find the Economist to lack credibility on the issue. https:/

by jdkee 7y ago

Given that over half a million families file medical bankruptcies in the United States annually, I find the Economist to lack credibility on the issue. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/this-is-the-real-reason-most-americans-file-for-bankruptcy.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/this-is-the-real-reason-most...

rayiner 7y ago
That’s a highly misleading statistic, based on assuming that anyone with medical debt who declared bankruptcy did so because of the medical debt. In fact, the rate is much lower: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5865642/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5865642/ > However, the magnitude of the bankruptcy effect is much smaller than previously thought: we estimate that hospitalizations cause only 4% of personal bankruptcies among nonelderly U.S. adults, which is an order of magnitude smaller than the previous estimates described above. WaPo’s fact checker gave that statistic three pinnochios: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/28/sanderss-flawed-statistic-medical-bankruptcies-year/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/28/sanderss-...
- jdkee 7y ago
  Per your NIH citation, you may be correct. FTA, "Overemphasizing “medical bankruptcies” may distract from understanding the true nature of economic hardship arising from high-cost health problems." Healthcare costs have been rising faster than inflation since the 1970s. Health care consumed 4 percent of income in 1960 compared to 6 percent in 2013. https://www.thebalance.com/causes-of-rising-healthcare-costs-4064878 https://www.thebalance.com/causes-of-rising-healthcare-costs... And are expected to continue doing so into the near term. https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/Downloads/ForecastSummary.pdf https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Sta...

by jdkee 7y ago

rayiner 7y ago

That’s a highly misleading statistic, based on assuming that anyone with medical debt who declared bankruptcy did so because of the medical debt. In fact, the rate is much lower: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5865642/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5865642/ > However, the magnitude of the bankruptcy effect is much smaller than previously thought: we estimate that hospitalizations cause only 4% of personal bankruptcies among nonelderly U.S. adults, which is an order of magnitude smaller than the previous estimates described above. WaPo’s fact checker gave that statistic three pinnochios: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/28/sanderss-flawed-statistic-medical-bankruptcies-year/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/28/sanderss-...

jdkee 7y ago
Per your NIH citation, you may be correct. FTA, "Overemphasizing “medical bankruptcies” may distract from understanding the true nature of economic hardship arising from high-cost health problems." Healthcare costs have been rising faster than inflation since the 1970s. Health care consumed 4 percent of income in 1960 compared to 6 percent in 2013. https://www.thebalance.com/causes-of-rising-healthcare-costs-4064878 https://www.thebalance.com/causes-of-rising-healthcare-costs... And are expected to continue doing so into the near term. https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/Downloads/ForecastSummary.pdf https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Sta...