Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

> #1 leading cause of bankruptcies in the US

This isn't true. A certain well-known politician made this claim, but it turns out she counted everyone who had medical debt when they declared personal bankruptcy as a "bankruptcy caused by medical debt." If someone gambled away their home and incidentally had an unpaid doctor's bill, it's a stretch to call that a medical bankruptcy.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2009/06/why-eli...



To expand on your comment, only 4% of US bankruptcies are because of medical bills <https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/0...>. A tipoff that [insert large percentage here] of bankruptcies aren't actually because of medical costs is that only 6% of bankruptcies by those without health insurance are because of that cause. The biggest cause of bankruptcies is lack of income, which health insurance doesn't affect.


"medical-debt-related" bankruptcy then. To your point, wonder if it's higher than any other ___-related bankruptcies (anyone have data on that?)


Wow, Elizabeth Warren loses more of my respect every day.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: