Re: Medical bills force more bankruptcies

[Guest guest]

In the meantime, Congressional chuckleheads who are rolling in money continue to push all this under the rug. Everytime unversal coverage in suggested people start screaming that it's socialism. Well, so what? It works fine in other nations. Of course, it does mean that people pay higher taxes; but it also means that people get back what they pay for. It's not a perfect system to be sure; but it's better than the mess we have in this country. I recently has a one-day-in-hospital procedure done. The statement came from my insurance company today. The total bill was a bit over $25,000.00. Yes, it's true. My share of cost was a mere $200.00. I am hard pressed to figure out why such an outlandish cost.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Eleanor Roosevelt

From: Lee <jackalope_lepus@...>Subject: [Flu] Medical bills force more bankruptciesFlu Date: Monday, July 21, 2008, 3:02 AM

Medical bills force more bankruptciesAn unforeseen illness or accident can start the downward spiral,researchers say. BY COURTNEY PERKES, The Orange County Register Pat Herrick retired from her career as an executive administrativeassistant at 61 after crying too many times at her desk because of theunrelenting pain of rheumatoid arthritis.She paid nearly $300 a month to continue her Cigna health insurancethrough COBRA, the federal law that allows former employees to keeptheir health coverage after leaving a job. When that expired after 18months, Herrick was too young for Medicare and private insurers wouldnot cover her for any price.Herrick, a widow, soon wiped out nearly $50,000 in life savings, muchof it spent on expensive medications and visits to specialists.She stopped receiving pain-relieving infusion treatments against herdoctor's advice because she knew she couldn't pay for

them. Shestarted cutting her own hair to save money, found a part-time job andcanceled cable and Internet service.That wasn't enough.Collection agencies call Herrick seven days a week. She has developeda stress-related digestive disorder that requires more treatment.After a lifetime of financial independence, she owes more than $15,000in medical debt that may force her into bankruptcy."I'm a responsible person," says Herrick, who lives in Irvine. "Thiscan happen to anybody."SICK OF BILLSAccording to researchers at Harvard University, medical billscontribute to roughly half of all bankruptcies. They also say thechain of events leading to bankruptcy is often easy to trace – anunforeseen illness or accident that leads to the loss of a job, andwith it, the double whammy of losing health insurance and income.Bankruptcies are on the rise nationwide and there's no way of

knowinghow many are related to medical bills. In Orange County, bankruptcyfilings in May were up 94 percent from last year, according to courtstatistics."A lot of them can't afford their co-pays. We've seen this withpatients that have chronic illness and chemo patients," said JamiTeagle-Burgos, an attorney at Legal Aid's Health Consumer ActionCenter in Santa Ana. "It's hard to tell someone you can't get yourchemo treatment because you can't afford your co-pay."Health care providers are also struggling under the weight of unpaidbills. Last year, California hospitals lost $9.7 billion treatingpatients who couldn't pay, according to data reported to the state.Those losses cut into revenue hospitals need to buy diagnosticequipment, staff emergency rooms or even stay open.The 2005 Harvard research found that many people who went bankruptover medical bills were middle-class homeowners who

had lost healthcoverage in the prior two years.For instance, one man in the study underwent lung surgery and suffereda heart attack. His bills were covered by his employer-based coverage.But he lost that insurance once he couldn't return to the physicallydemanding labor. He found work elsewhere but was denied insurancebecause of his pre-existing conditions.Advocates of health care reform say universal coverage, currently at astalemate in the state Legislature, would prevent the potentiallycatastrophic loss of insurance.Even those with insurance could not always afford high co-payments anddeductibles, the Harvard study found. One bankrupt man, insuredthrough his job, broke his leg and ran up $13,000 in out-of-pocket costs.Herrick, 65, also fell into a downward spiral she never anticipated.She worked for 38 years and had always planned to work until sheturned 67."I

thought that I was in good enough health that I could work thatlong and make sure I had a good financial basis when I did retire,"Herrick says.An avid hiker, Herrick enjoyed excellent health until she woke up onemorning in 2002 with swollen hands and feet. The only explanation shecould fathom was a case of poison oak from a trail at Mt. . Itwould take nine months before doctors diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis,an autoimmune disorder that damages and deforms joints.Working at her computer at Fed Ex grew increasingly difficult and sheneeded a walker to make it to the photocopier. The pain and exhaustionbecame more than she could bear.Once Herrick's insurance coverage lapsed, she began paying bills onher own. As her savings ran out, she charged some she couldn't afford,and left others entirely unpaid. Without insurance, her costs formedicine totaled hundreds of dollars a month. The

largest bill was$7,000 to Hoag Hospital for infusions. That debt was mostly forgivenafter Herrick qualified for charity care, a requirement for nonprofithospitals because they don't pay taxes.Herrick moved from her two-bedroom, two-bath apartment into a muchsmaller affordable senior unit. She cut all luxuries – and someessentials – from her life. After she went three months without payingher electric bill, Herrick swallowed her pride and sought help from anonprofit. Herrick's four grown sons have helped her, but she has notshared all the details of her situation because she hasn't wanted toburden them."For the first time in my life, I feel like a non-person," she says."When your life is so wrapped up in worrying about the almighty dollaryou lose a lot of yourself."Herrick was recently approved for Social Security disability. Shelives on that $1,009 monthly check plus about $500

a month from herjob as a church receptionist. She can only work 2.5 hours per daybecause of her arthritis."There's a lot of fatigue," she says. "I can be getting ready for workand I have to go sit down for 10 minutes. It's like somebody turnsyour switch on and off."Herrick has taken some preliminary steps toward filing for bankruptcybut is hoping for some way to pay what she owes. Her medical needs arecovered by Medicare now."I'm the one who incurred those debts. They're the ones who providedthe services. Why should they absorb all that?"MANY COSTS While most Americans will never file for bankruptcy, paying for healthcare is a source of worry for many.A Kaiser Family Foundation poll this spring of 2,000 adults found that28 percent struggled with paying for health care. Three percent haddeclared bankruptcy because of medical bills. Another 17 percent saidthey had

spent all or most of their savings on health care expensesand 20 percent reported being contacted by collection agencies overmedical bills.Efforts to collect medical debt are growing rapidly, according to a2007 report commissioned by ACA International, a trade association forthe collections industry. Collection agencies that were surveyedrecovered on average 16 percent of hospital debt and 19 percent ofdoctor, laboratory and ambulance bills. Those figures fall withintypical industry recovery rates for categories such as auto loans andcredit cards.Jay Gonsalves, president-elect of ACA International and owner of ahealth care collection company in Massachusetts, said he has noticeddoctors are more likely than hospitals to report patients to creditbureaus."It's not as common as on the consumer side, like retail," Gonsalvessaid. "We're seeing it a little bit more now."Gonsalves

has also seen an increase in patients using credit creditcards to pay their delinquent accounts. With rising gas prices and aslowing economy, collection agencies are entering into lengthierpayment plans than in the past."There's no such thing as a free lunch, even in terms of health caredebt," he said. "It costs more for those of us who pay their billsbecause of those who don't."Last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a sweeping plan tobring universal health coverage to Californians through various newtaxes. But the legislation died earlier this year after lawmakersraised concerns that it was too expensive in light of the state'sbudget shortfall.Jim Lott, executive vice president of the Hospital Association ofSouthern California, said hospitals have no choice but try to collecttheir bills."My advice is always before it gets to that stage, contact thehospital and try

to work out some sort of a payment plan or reducedpayment obligation," Lott said. "Hospitals are not looking to makemoney on people's misery. They're simply trying to recover their costs."Lott said an estimated 5 percent of health care premiums represent"cost shifting" to cover unpaid treatment to the uninsured. He saidlarger costs come from the strain put on local hospitals and areduction in taxes paid by for-profit hospitals that write off theirunpaid bills."This is a problem for consumers, the hospital industry, federalgovernment and state government," Lott said. "Why can't we haveuniversal coverage? Why do we have 47 million Americans with noinsurance and 6 million Californians with no insurance? That makes nosense."http://www.ocregist er.com/articles/

health-herrick- bills-2090987- insurance- care?slideshow= 1

[Guest guest]

Congressional chuckleheads who are rolling in money?

You do not know the half of it. The Congressional pension system was

once a CBS tv " 60 Minutes " story because it is so much more generous

than ANY other federal pension, whether military or civil service.

So I presume that their health insurance is similarly gold plated and

far better than anything anyone else has.

>

> In the meantime, Congressional chuckleheads who are rolling in money

continue to push all this under the rug. Everytime unversal coverage

in suggested people start screaming that it's socialism. Well, so

what? It works fine in other nations. Of course, it does mean that

people pay higher taxes; but it also means that people get back what

they pay for. It's not a perfect system to be sure; but it's better

than the mess we have in this country. I recently has a

one-day-in-hospital procedure done. The statement came from my

insurance company today. The total bill was a bit over $25,000.00.

Yes, it's true. My share of cost was a mere $200.00. I am hard

pressed to figure out why such an outlandish cost.

[Guest guest]

Congresspersons have full coverage health insurance for life. Hence they don't give a rat's butt about the rest of us despite all their posturing and puffery. If they were really serious about health care reform something would have been done a long time ago; but these whack jobs prefer endless yapping to concrete action just might help people.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Eleanor Roosevelt

From: Lee <jackalope_lepus@...>Subject: [Flu] Re: Medical bills force more bankruptciesFlu Date: Tuesday, July 22, 2008, 2:31 AM

Congressional chuckleheads who are rolling in money?You do not know the half of it. The Congressional pension system wasonce a CBS tv "60 Minutes" story because it is so much more generousthan ANY other federal pension, whether military or civil service.So I presume that their health insurance is similarly gold plated andfar better than anything anyone else has.>> In the meantime, Congressional chuckleheads who are rolling in moneycontinue to push all this under the rug. Everytime unversal coveragein suggested people start screaming that it's socialism. Well, sowhat? It works fine in other nations. Of course, it does mean thatpeople pay higher taxes; but it also means that people get back whatthey pay for. It's not a perfect system

to be sure; but it's betterthan the mess we have in this country. I recently has aone-day-in-hospital procedure done. The statement came from myinsurance company today. The total bill was a bit over $25,000.00. Yes, it's true. My share of cost was a mere $200.00. I am hardpressed to figure out why such an outlandish cost.

[Guest guest]

So, everybody else gets health coverage only while their employer

provides it, but the members of Congress get health coverage for life

even after--for example--some leave office having lost re-election

after a two year term in the House of Representatives. That stinks.

>

> Congresspersons have full coverage health insurance for life. Hence

they don't give a rat's butt about the rest of us despite all their

posturing and puffery. If they were really serious about health care

reform something would have been done a long time ago; but these whack

jobs prefer endless yapping to concrete action just might help people.

>

> Do one thing every day that scares you.

> Eleanor Roosevelt