Even insurance doesn’t help

Posted by on . 3 comments.

Americans aren’t going bankrupt because they’re buying fancy cars and flat screen TVs.  They’re going bankrupt because of medical bills, even people who have insurance.  And it’s only getting worse – I’m just one of many people who can’t afford to take needed prescriptions.

Comments

  1. Justin says:
    June 9, 2009 at 4:49 pm

    Unfortunately, there’s reason to believe that Warren’s study is not worthwhile. See Megan McArdle on the issue (she also has a series of followup posts).

    Reply
  2. Mike says:
    June 9, 2009 at 8:13 pm

    Justin, the reason bankruptcies fell precipitously is that horrible bankruptcy law that was passed in 2005.

    Actually, just read this comment for some understanding of why the Warren approach is far more logically sound.

    Megan McArdle, though interesting sometimes, is being completely disingenuous — as sans the anti-consumer bankruptcy law in 2005, bankruptcies would have been far higher.

    Surprise! A bill that makes it harder to declare bankruptcy reduces the number of bankruptcies, medical ones included! I’m so shocked!

    Reply
  3. Justin says:
    June 13, 2009 at 7:16 pm

    McArdle addressed that concern in the follow up (and fyi, she thinks bankruptcy should be easy to get, and she was against the 2005 bankruptcy law).

    It’s really just basic social science that you should rarely use comparisons across such different samples, unless you have very good reasons to believe that you can extract useful data. On the face of it, there’s no reason to think that’s the case here.

    Reply

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