Health insurers just published close to a trillion hospital prices

Re:Health insurers just published close to a trillion hospit... by nradov on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @08:07PM (#32744764)

About 90% of Americans have medical insurance. Coverage caps were eliminated years ago, and the out-of-pocket maximum is low enough that the medical expenses from a single incident are unlikely to drive middle class people to bankruptcy.

Where bankruptcy becomes an issue is when a medical condition leaves someone unable to work for months. With no income they can burn through savings and credit quickly. Then when they file for bankruptcy of course they have some medical debts, but those medical debts are typically not the primary cause of the bankruptcy and even if the medical debts were eliminated they would still be insolvent.

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Re:Health insurers just published close to a trillion hospit... by kev33 on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @08:19PM (#32744851)

That's a good point, I may have overstated the issue. However, from what I understand it is not too difficult to find oneself being treated by somebody outside of their insurance network. This could easily lead to a bankruptcy. Furthermore, many do not feel comfortable or confident navigating these byzantine insurance landscapes. This leads to people avoiding medical care regardless of insurance status.

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Re:Health insurers just published close to a trillion hospit... by refurb on Tuesday September 06, 2022 @08:51PM (#32745096)

Interestingly this is a problem in Canada as well. Medical costs aren’t - there is no out of pocket at all.

But a medical condition that means you can’t work is the #1 cause of medical bankruptcy in Canada.

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