Health care reform supporters like Elizabeth Edwards, a breast cancer survivor and wife of former presidential contender John Edwards, cite research that both the insured and uninsured are facing bankruptcies for overwhelming medical bills.
The share of bankruptcies attributable to health care costs rose by 50 percent between 2001 and 2007. Some 62 percent of bankruptcies in 2007 were “medical.”
Fiscal conservatives question the study’s objectivity because the authors, like Edwards, are on record for taking sides in the contentious health care reform debate and urging a single-payer national health program.
With their eye on an estimated $1 trillion debt from President Obama’s health care reform plans, critics point to Federal Reserve reports that found medical debt rose slightly, from 5.5 percent of all debt in 2001 to 5.8 percent of all debt in 2007.
This week, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., chaired a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on his bill to carve out an exception for people whose medical bills were the main cause of their financial distress.
Full Story: Change bankruptcy laws to help address medical financial stress
