The current health care system is not bankrupting America; Rather, outrageously high medical bills, mounds of credit card debt and expensive mortgages are what cause Americans to file for bankruptcy, experts said Tuesday at a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.
Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of one-time Democratic Presidential hopeful John Edwards, shared statistics with the committee regarding vast medical costs forcing Americans into declaring bankruptcy. Edwards explained that such costs force households into cutting back on what they spend on health care.
“According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey, concerns about affording needed medical care led insured individuals to cut back on care due to cost. Responses included postponing care (34%), skipping a recommended medical visit or treatment (30%), not filling prescriptions (27%), and skipping doses or cutting pills (21%),” said Edwards.
University of Michigan Law Professor and bankruptcy expert John A. E. Pottow offered his definition of medical bankruptcy to the committee.
“It could mean someone whose medical debts exceed…a certain percentage of their income. Or it could mean someone who lost income or a job, or even had to mortgage his or her home, due to medical bills,” said Pottow.
Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a physician and Harvard University medical professor, argued that only a single-payer system can make health care coverage available and affordable to all Americans, and would “save hundreds of billions we now waste on insurance overhead and bureaucracy”. Woolhandler also claimed that private insurance is fundamentally defective and the tremendous amount of over-treatment by doctors causes medical bills to go way up.
However, the committee’s ranking Republican member, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), took issue with Woolhandler’s sentiments.
“Here’s my big concern, and that is that somehow the answer to medical bankruptcy is nationalized healthcare…If a [nationalized healthcare system] saves hundreds of billions of dollars, it would be a first in history for government to do something of this complexity and actually save money,” said Franks.
“If indeed private insurance is fundamentally defective…with all the crises that people face with healthcare, if you put it in government hands, even to a partial extent, you will diminish the dignity of the patient and the pressure will be on giving less healthcare…I am convinced that healthcare will become more expensive...Instead of having financial bankruptcy, we will have health bankruptcy,” said Franks.
High Health Costs Forcing Americans To Go Bankrupt, Cut Back On Care
The current health care system is not bankrupting America; Rather, outrageously high medical bills, mounds of credit card debt and expensive mortgages are what cause Americans to file for bankruptcy, experts said Tuesday at a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.
Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of one-time Democratic Presidential hopeful John Edwards, shared statistics with the committee regarding vast medical costs forcing Americans into declaring bankruptcy. Edwards explained that such costs force households into cutting back on what they spend on health care.
“According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey, concerns about affording needed medical care led insured individuals to cut back on care due to cost. Responses included postponing care (34%), skipping a recommended medical visit or treatment (30%), not filling prescriptions (27%), and skipping doses or cutting pills (21%),” said Edwards.
University of Michigan Law Professor and bankruptcy expert John A. E. Pottow offered his definition of medical bankruptcy to the committee.
“It could mean someone whose medical debts exceed…a certain percentage of their income. Or it could mean someone who lost income or a job, or even had to mortgage his or her home, due to medical bills,” said Pottow.
Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a physician and Harvard University medical professor, argued that only a single-payer system can make health care coverage available and affordable to all Americans, and would “save hundreds of billions we now waste on insurance overhead and bureaucracy”. Woolhandler also claimed that private insurance is fundamentally defective and the tremendous amount of over-treatment by doctors causes medical bills to go way up.
However, the committee’s ranking Republican member, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), took issue with Woolhandler’s sentiments.
“Here’s my big concern, and that is that somehow the answer to medical bankruptcy is nationalized healthcare…If a [nationalized healthcare system] saves hundreds of billions of dollars, it would be a first in history for government to do something of this complexity and actually save money,” said Franks.
“If indeed private insurance is fundamentally defective…with all the crises that people face with healthcare, if you put it in government hands, even to a partial extent, you will diminish the dignity of the patient and the pressure will be on giving less healthcare…I am convinced that healthcare will become more expensive...Instead of having financial bankruptcy, we will have health bankruptcy,” said Franks.