Have you seen Experian X-ray commercial?

[angrychair]

Has anyone seen the Experian commercial called "x-ray" about a man trying to rebuild his credit score after it was messed up due to credit card debt paying medical bills from a car accident?

What a horrible commentary on our society that a life-altering event such as this appears to be so common that a credit reporting agency did a commercial based on that scenario.

Why are we not asking why this poor man had his credit destroyed by medical bills from a car accident? Why was he forced to run up unsustainable credit card debt?

This very situation is why topics like single-payer are so important. A person's life should not be ruined due to medical bills from an accident.

Link to commercial in case you haven't seen it:

[SheilaT]

1. We are, I believe, the only country whose citizens declare bankruptcy

after some sort of medical crisis. And the majority of those already have some sort of coverage.

Doesn't happen in other first world countries. How odd is that?

[jmowreader]

3. Are you quite sure?

https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/bsf-osb.nsf/vwapj/Redish-Sarra-Schabas-2006-ENG.pdf/$FILE/Redish-Sarra-Schabas-2006-ENG.pdf

According to this official Canadian government study of bankruptcy in Canada, 15 percent of all bankruptcies in Canada - which has a single-payer insurance program - were caused by medical expenses.

[GeorgeGist]

4. That study was only for those over 55 and ...

Bankrupcy was likely due to lost income, not medical expenses per se.

[jmowreader]

7. The Canadian system doesn't cover prescriptions.

This is a Canadian pharmacy that advertises in my paper...I just picked this one because I have the URL for it handy.

https://www.totalcaremart.com

Go through the prescription prices and you can well understand how a Canadian could go bankrupt from medical expenses. If you're on fifteen different meds like my mother is, and you don't have a good prescription plan, you could EASILY lose your ass buying pharmaceuticals.

[SheilaT]

5. Okay, so I stand corrected. But I'm pretty sure it doesn't happen in other countries,

the ones with genuine Universal Health Care. Something like half of all bankruptcies in this country are because of medical costs, and usually those declaring bankruptcy have medical coverage.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

2. People have lost their homes from breaking a leg while skiing.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. Tangential To This OP

But, related to these credit score commercials.

Where do these 20 somethings with credit scores of 780 and 820 come from? And, who gets free furniture because they have a higher credit score?

I was on the board of directors of a sizeable credit union for nearly 20 years. Credit scores of 800 aren't that easy to come by.

As to the OP itself: Since i really loathe all these commercials, i'm sure this one is just as bad as the rest. And the OP is right that a credit score being ruined because someone got sick is unconscionable. I keep hearing america is exceptional. Well, let's show it.