In a large collaborative study recently released by the Department of Medicine in the Harvard Medical School, Department of Sociology at the Ohio University, and the Harvard Law School some concrete realities have been revealed that might make you rethink your position on the impact of the Healthcare System and also consider your options if you are also getting buried under a pile of medical bills.

The study was conducted between 2001 to the end of 2007. Right about in the middle of this study in 2005 the Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act was passed by congress with the intent to discourage consumer bankruptcy and seek alternative options. But unfortunately, injuries and sickness certainly don’t care about your responsibilities and most of all, political ideologies.

Here are some of the main points from the report:

• In the time between 2001 and 2007, the percent of medical bankruptcies went from 49.6% to 62.1% as encompassing the percentage of all bankruptcies. That translated into approximately 866,000 medical bankruptcies in 2007.
• Legacy variables from the 2001 study to calculate the percent of medical bankruptcies in 2007 reveal a 50% increase.
• 77.9% of those who attributed their illness or injury to their bankruptcy bankruptcy had health insurance at the onset of the medical condition.
• Most of the medically bankrupt families were middle class before the illness or injury–they owned homes, had attended college, and had middle-class occupations.
• For medically bankrupt families, most of their non-housing monthly expenditures went to hospital bills.
• The average out-of-pocket medical expenses since the onset of the illness or injury were $17,943 for families in medical bankruptcy.

You don’t have to allow a medical setback to destroy your future. If you find yourself debilitated by medical bills and you can’t seem to find a way out, call Phillips Webster today for a consultation.