Elizabeth Woodruff drained her retirement account and took on three jobs after she and her husband were sued for nearly $10,000 by the New York hospital where his infected leg was amputated.Ariane Buck, a young father in Arizona who sells health insurance, couldn't make an appointment with his doctor for a dangerous intestinal infection because the office said he had outstanding bills.
Allyson Ward and her husband loaded up credit cards, borrowed from relatives, and delayed repaying student loans after the premature birth of their twins left them with $80,000 in debt. Ward, a nurse practitioner, took on extra nursing shifts, working days and nights.
"I wanted to be a mom," she said. "But we had to have the money."The three are among more than 100 million people in America ― including 41% of adults ― beset by a health care system that is systematically pushing patients into debt on a mass scale, an investigation by KHN and NPR shows.
The investigation reveals a problem that, despite new attention from the White House and Congress, is far more pervasive than previously reported. That is because much of the debt that patients accrue is hidden as credit card balances, loans from family, or payment plans to hospitals and other medical providers.
In the past five years, more than half of U.S. adults report they've gone into debt because of medical or dental bills, the KFF poll found.
A quarter of adults with health care debt owe more than $5,000. And about 1 in 5 with any amount of debt said they don't expect to ever pay it off.
"Debt is no longer just a bug in our system. It is one of the main products," said Dr. Rishi Manchanda, who has worked with low-income patients in California for more than a decade and served on the board of the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt. "We have a health care system almost perfectly designed to create debt."
The burden is forcing families to cut spending on food and other essentials. Millions are being driven from their homes or into bankruptcy, the poll found.
Отсюда
Медицинские долги имеют сто миллионов американцев. И если вы думаете, что "а чё, можно не платить, негры и брайтоновцы ж не платят", то у этого есть серьезные последствия. В некоторых штатах за медицинские долги могут отобрать ваше жилье, а там где законы это не позволяют (фу! гадюшник!) у вас будут проблемы попасть к доктору, если у вас долг по медицинским счетам. По этой причине те, у кого за душой хоть что-то есть, влезают в долги и пытаются выплатить. А долги-то с процентами! И медицинская система с удовольствием плодит эти долги и проценты. И старикам еще везет, поскольку у них Медикэр, а вот молодежи не повезло. Она вроде здорова, но если что-то случается - пипец:
And it is preventing Americans from saving for retirement, investing in their children's educations, or laying the traditional building blocks for a secure future, such as borrowing for college or buying a home. Debt from health care is nearly twice as common for adults under 30 as for those 65 and older, the KFF poll found.
Perhaps most perversely, medical debt is blocking patients from care.
About 1 in 7 people with debt said they've been denied access to a hospital, doctor, or other provider because of unpaid bills, according to the poll. An even greater share ― about two-thirds ― have put off care they or a family member need because of cost.
А теперь та самая вишенка:
America's debt crisis is driven by a simple reality: Half of U.S. adults don't have the cash to cover an unexpected $500 health care bill, according to the KFF poll.
ПОЛОВИНА американцев не может заплатить 500 баксов за внезапный медицинский счет, из за чего они влезают в долги. ПОЛОВИНА.
А мне тут говорят, что у большинства американцев избыток денег. Как бы не так
И вот ещё интересное:
How much medical debt Americans have in total is hard to know because so much isn't recorded. But an earlier KFF analysis of federal data estimated that collective medical debt totaled at least $195 billion in 2019, larger than the economy of Greece.
Американцы должны госпиталям и врачам почти 200 миллиардов долларов. На лечение американцев у государства денег нет, персональная ответственность и всё такое (как будто люди выбирают болеть!). А вот на Украинушку 50 миллиардов - та пажалста! И никакой персональной украинушкиной ответственности. Американское государство откровенно не любит своих граждан.
И, кстати, заметьте на карте помечены территории, где самый большой медицинский долг. Почему-то среди этих штатов и графст превалируют управляемые "гениальными бизнесменами" от республиканцев. Наименьшие долги - Вермонт, Миннесота и Массачусетс. А наибольшие - Техас, Джорджия, Южная и (привет
whatzzap) Северная Каролина.