Monday, March 26, 2018

Myth Status: Busted (Again)

We first blogged about the myth of widespread medical bankruptcy over 10 years ago:

"There is little evidence that medical debt is a major causal factor in bankruptcy filings."

Turns out, even under the train wreck that is ObamaCare, little has changed:

"Study: Medical Expenses Cause Close to 4% of Personal Bankruptcies — not 60%"

Ooops.

Now, one thing I truly admire about the cited article's author is this caveat:

"Keep in mind this study does not show the overall personal bankruptcy rate is lower than believed. It shows only that the share attributable to medical expenses is lower than believed." [emphasis in original)

My own take-away is that of course medical bankruptcy is bad, but if we're truly going to have a "conversation" about health care financing, we need to avoid inflated numbers and false premises.

[Hat Tip: FoIB Michael Cannon]
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