Americans Borrowed $88 Billion to Pay for Health Care Last Year, Survey Finds

[DonViejo]

Source: The New York Times



By Karen Zraick
April 2, 2019

Americans borrowed an estimated $88 billion over the last year to pay for health care, according to a survey released on Tuesday by Gallup and the nonprofit West Health.

The survey also found that one in four Americans have skipped treatment because of the cost, and that nearly half fear bankruptcy in the event of a health emergency.

There was a partisan divide when respondents were asked whether they believed that the American health care system is among the best in the world: Among Republicans, 67 percent of respondents said they believed so; that number was 38 percent among Democrats.

But Democrats and Republicans had similar responses about putting off medical treatment. Asked if they had deferred treatment because of the cost, 27 percent of Democrats said they had, compared with 21 percent of Republicans and 30 percent of independents.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/health/americans-health-care-debt-borrowing.html

[watoos]

1. Single payer health care is too expensive is an oxymoron.

[Scarsdale]

2. Nothing will change as long as

republican donors can profit from the present "system". Besides, the politicians are set for life. They have Cadillac coverage, mainly paid for by taxpayers. Why change their sweet deal? Haven't too many people already died for lack of coverage? My 45 year old son for one, his friend died waiting for his insulin supply to arrive. I guess they were both disposable as far as the gop is concerned, since neither one was wealthy or republican.

[watoos]

4. Really sorry about your loss,

It will not be easy to change our for profit system, but we must try. There is very little reporting about our Life expectancy falling for 3 years in a row, that is such a despicable statistic for the richest nation on the planet.

We, the unwashed, are disposable to the super wealthy. One of the main topics at Davos was how to do away with the unwashed, how to replace them with robots and AI.

Consumer debt is rising and one reason is from health care costs yet we Democrats argue among ourselves whether or not we should push for single payer health care. Our country has lost its way, oh wait, the stock market is booming.

[Scarsdale]

5. Thank you.

The richest people got tax breaks, with even more promised. So, I guess all is well in the good ol' US of A.

[Auggie]

3. I see even more wrong here:

Besides massive debt incurred from those who can't afford to pay (plus deferred medical treatment as mentioned in the link), lenders are going to profit from the interest. Major default possibilities? Banking crisis? Why not?

[watoos]

6. Your avatar, Naomi Klein and Thomas Picketty,

explained all of this; disaster capitalism and income inequality, things very few people talk about.

[Merlot]

7. As usual they asked a loaded question:

There was a partisan divide when respondents were asked whether they believed that the American health care system is among the best in the world: Among Republicans, 67 percent of respondents said they believed so; that number was 38 percent among Democrats.

Of course republicans agree that it's "the best in the world." Even I would agree that the health care system in the US is very good. The problem is ACCESS to that healtcare system.

[area51]

8. We desperately need

comprehensive Medicare for All.