Health care, what some consider being a basic human right, what our country considers to be a privilege to those who have the funds to support it. Unfortunately, today's American health care system is no longer only negatively affecting the poor and uninsured, but is now affecting middle class suburbia. This paper will focus on the cause and possible solution to the recent upswing in bankruptcy filings due to medical health care costs.
Harvard professors Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein, along with Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren and Ohio University sociology and anthropology professor Deborag Throne compiled statistically accurate data on bankruptcies in the United States. Their published study found that between 1981 and 2001, medical related bankruptcies have increased by an astounding 2,200 percent. This when compared to the 360% growth in all personal bankruptcies during the same period, is simply a figure that cannot go ignored.
"About twenty-five years ago, filing for bankruptcy because of debts from medical problems was virtually unheard of." (Frosch, 2005) Today medical costs are the second leading cause of personal bankruptcy, topped only by job loss. One factor affecting this rise in personal bankruptcies relating to medical costs is the dramatically increasing health care costs in the United States. "In 2002 American paid an average of $5440 in medical expenditures, up $419 from the previous year alone." (Frosch, 2005)
The major increases in medical costs can be attributed to technological advancements and the high costs associated with break-through drugs. Capitalism is the driving force of the medication industry. High ...