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by danielweber 4839 days ago
46% of all bankruptcies circa 2007 were medically induced.

There were obvious problems with Warren's methodology. If I live in a system with excellent government healthcare, and I end up paralyzed, my family might still go through bankruptcy because they've lost their primary income.

The number is more like 1/4 than 1/2. 26% of bankruptcies have medical debts exceeding $1000. Obviously that includes someone owing $4000 to a dentist as well as someone owing $450,000 to an oncologist, so the real number is some portion of 26%.

2 comments

> The number is more like 1/4 than 1/2.

Great. So the number of people that have been profitteered into bankruptcy is only 1/2 of what I mentioned.

It doesn't change the basic fact: Profiting handsomely from the sick and dying used to be considered unethical. Now, it is "just business".

The real question is what percentage of medical patients go bankrupt at all.