Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Medical bankruptcies not as widespread as previously thought
[Aparna Mathur, "Medical Bills and Bankruptcy Filings," The American Enterprise Institute, 19 July 2006.]
As NCPA President John Goodman points out, a slew of recent research undermines the claim made last year that medical bankruptcies outpace all others. The latest is a study from AEI:
The idea that more than half of all bankruptcies are caused by medical debt comes from a study by Harvard associate professors David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, published on the Web in February 2005 by the journal Health Affairs.
Both Himmelstein and Woolhandler have long advocated creating a single-payer system of national health insurance in the United States. The purpose of their study was to convince middle-class voters that they need socialized medicine to truly be secure from health-related financial catastrophe.
When the article came out it generated much controversy because the authors used a very broad definition of medical-related bankruptcy. In response, Health Affairs published more than 30 letters to the editor - as well as a follow-up study by researchers critical of the Himmelstein-Woolhandler study's methodology.
Fortunately, a new study by Aparna Mathur surveys the literature and puts matters straight. Dr. Mathur, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, found that only about one-quarter of bankruptcy filers have debts that are primarily medical in nature. Far more common are bankruptcies related to credit card debts.
[Sally Pipes, "Buyer Beware the Kerry Health Plan," The Flint Hills Center, 6 October 2004.]
As NCPA President John Goodman points out, a slew of recent research undermines the claim made last year that medical bankruptcies outpace all others. The latest is a study from AEI:
The idea that more than half of all bankruptcies are caused by medical debt comes from a study by Harvard associate professors David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, published on the Web in February 2005 by the journal Health Affairs.
Both Himmelstein and Woolhandler have long advocated creating a single-payer system of national health insurance in the United States. The purpose of their study was to convince middle-class voters that they need socialized medicine to truly be secure from health-related financial catastrophe.
When the article came out it generated much controversy because the authors used a very broad definition of medical-related bankruptcy. In response, Health Affairs published more than 30 letters to the editor - as well as a follow-up study by researchers critical of the Himmelstein-Woolhandler study's methodology.
Fortunately, a new study by Aparna Mathur surveys the literature and puts matters straight. Dr. Mathur, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, found that only about one-quarter of bankruptcy filers have debts that are primarily medical in nature. Far more common are bankruptcies related to credit card debts.
[Sally Pipes, "Buyer Beware the Kerry Health Plan," The Flint Hills Center, 6 October 2004.]
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