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Originally posted by bilmore
First, note that I hate this bill, so I'm not trying to shoot it down here.

But - the study was way too flawed and skewed to conclude that almost half of BKs' were medical-bill driven. Their definitions encompassed far more than was proper to make such a conclusion.

"We developed two summary measures of medical bankruptcy. Under the rubric “Major Medical Bankruptcy” we included debtors who either (1) cited illness or injury as a specific reason for bankruptcy, or (2) reported uncovered medical bills exceeding $1,000 in the past years, or (3) lost at least two weeks of work-related income because of illness/injury, or (4) mortgaged a home to pay medical bills. Our more inclusive category, “Any Medical Bankruptcy,” included debtors who cited any of the above, or addiction, or uncontrolled gambling, or birth, or the death of a family member."

I've seen better studies that put it at around 10%-15%. What this study shows is that at least half of all BKs include at least $1000 in medical debt (hell, I've got that right now), were caused by missing at least two weeks of wages because of illness, or were brought on by someone's death, or addiction, or gambling problem - and all of these were self-reported by the bankrupt people.

No, the case for trashing this bill shouldn't include this study, but it doesn't need it.

Once again, total agreement. Though, I do think there is a medical crisis and that the way charges for/access to medical treatment are a big contributor to continuing poverty for people who start out relatively poor.