Getting worse

I don't write too much about the problems of medical insurance, but this "fact sheet" from a group called the Consumer Bankruptcy Project had some interesting information about the issue. The authors, who are primarily Harvard academics, include Elizabeth Warren, who is doing good work as head of the TARP Oversight Panel.

Their study, which is based on reviewing 2,000+ bankruptcy filings and talking to half of the people involved, shows that bankruptcy because of medical bills has increased by almost half since 2001 and in 2007 accounted for 62% of all bankruptcies. And 78% of these people had medical insurance. Those are frightening numbers.

I was surprised that the study found that almost half of the medical bills were from the hospital, then came drug charges and finally the doctors.