There is no such thing as going bankrupt due to health expenses in any advanced nation other than the United States. Whatever imperfections the current Senate and House health reform bills may have, the fact that they address this issue directly (by making lifetime maximums illegal and capping out-of-pocket expenses at $10,000 a year) is among their greatest strengths.
Today’s New York Times has a heartwrenching story about people in Tennessee declaring bankruptcy for no reason other than having had the misfortune of being sick or injured.
Jodie and Charlie Mullins of Dickson, Tenn., were making ends meet on his patrolman’s salary until she developed debilitating back pain that required spinal surgery and forced her to quit nursing school. As with many medical bankruptcies, they had health insurance but their policy had a $3,000 deductible and, to their surprise, covered only 80 percent of their costs.
“I always promised myself that if I ever got in trouble, I’d work two jobs to get out of it,” said Mr. Mullins, a 16-year veteran of the Dickson police force. “But it gets to the point where two or three or four jobs wouldn’t take care of it. The bills just were out of sight.”
