Republicans Blame "Reckless Living" for 60% of Bankruptcies.

Washington, DC (BFBE):  Congressional Republicans pointed to a Harvard study on 2007 bankruptcy statistics as an example of how "reckless living" caused 60% of all bankruptcies.

According to the study:

Bankruptcies due to medical bills increased by nearly 50 percent in
a six-year period, from 46 percent in 2001 to 62 percent in 2007, and
most of those who filed for bankruptcy were middle-class, well-educated
homeowners, according to a report that will be published in the August
issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

"Unless you're a
Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, you're one illness away from financial
ruin in this country," says lead author Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., of
the Harvard Medical School, in Cambridge, Mass. "If an illness is long
enough and expensive enough, private insurance offers very little
protection against medical bankruptcy, and that's the major finding in
our study."

They concluded that 62.1 percent of the bankruptcies were medically
related because the individuals either had more than $5,000 (or 10
percent of their pretax income) in medical bills, mortgaged their home
to pay for medical bills, or lost significant income due to an illness.
On average, medically bankrupt families had $17,943 in out-of-pocket
expenses, including $26,971 for those who lacked insurance and $17,749
who had insurance at some point.

Overall, three-quarters of the people with a medically-related bankruptcy had health insurance, they say.

"That was actually the predominant problem in patients in our study --
78 percent of them had health insurance, but many of them were
bankrupted anyway because there were gaps in their coverage like
co-payments and deductibles and uncovered services," says Woolhandler.
"Other people had private insurance but got so sick that they lost
their job and lost their insurance."

Edition: CNN.com

Chris Runaround, Spokesman for the House Republicans for a Healthy America, said, "The evidence could not be more clear.  There are millions of deadbeats out there forcing themselves to live at the expense of the economy as a whole.  If they would just do the moral thing, live within their means, and die from lack of healthcare, big business and the banks could have just come in and taken everything from the deceased estates.  Instead, they selfishly demand the healthcare system keep them alive no matter what.  Do you think they care one bit about the profits of these multinational corporations?  NO!  They are too wrapped up in themselves and 'will I see my children get married,' "what will my grandchildren grow up to be,' and, 'I don't want to die.' 

"Now, we have millions of people living because they lavishly wasted all their savings on medical expenses.  And, what do they do with this new lease on life?  They declare bankruptcy and force our political donors to wait until they can foreclose on these high livers' homes before they can see massive profits.

"Now, there is talk about nationalized healthcare.  Great!  Now, everybody will be living longer.  Just where do people think the insurance industry is going to make billions in profits if the government offers an affordable, superior healthcare alternative to the public?  It is pure idiocy."

Mr. Runaround pointed BFBE to "Nobody Lives Forever," a Republican funded outreach program offering support and guidance to cash strapped individuals and families in need of healthcare.  Some of their money saving recommendations include; "Saving up anti-depressants for the weekend," "Only take heart, blood pressure, an cholesterol medications when you feel you heart hurt," and "Swapping and trading medications among friends to make ends meet."