Medical costs are cited as one of the most frequent causes of New York bankruptcy, but there’s at least one study that’s delved into a specific type of health care costs: cancer. It’s an important topic because many types of cancer require long, expensive treatment before remission occurs. The study, which was conducted by the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research and appeared in the journal Health Affairs in 2013, analyzed two groups of 200,000 adults each in western Washington. One group came from a cancer registry and the other was cancer free. The analysis produced the following findings:
(1) Between 1995 and 2009, people who developed cancer were 2.65 times more likely to file bankruptcy than normal.
(2) Older Americans—those over 65—were the least likely to file medical bankruptcy due to cancer, the probable reason being that their treatments were covered by Medicare and Medicaid.
(3) Consequently, the epidemiology of cancer played an outsized role in medical bankruptcies: Cancers affecting younger people, like thyroid cancer, were more common among bankruptcy filers than those affecting older Americans, like prostate cancer. Younger people also tended to not have health insurance due to lower incomes.
(4) Speaking of insurance, an expert interviewed in an NBC article on the study said that previous research estimated that three-fourths of debtors in medical bankruptcies had private health insurance anyway. That insurance isn’t always sufficient either: One debtor in the article had coverage only for treatments and not diagnostic tests.
The best that can be said about the study is that the time period it covered, 1995 to 2009, preceded the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Since then, the percentage of Americans who have health insurance has risen, and private insurers are obligated to cover preexisting conditions. Hopefully this means fewer medical bankruptcies. On the other hand, many healthy Americans, probably including younger ones, purchase the cheapest policies available. Such policies might not cover a significant number of cancer drugs and treatments.
The Health Affairs article can be found here (subscription required) and the NBC article here.
If your medical treatment—whether for cancer or any other condition—has led to severe financial difficulties, it’s very important to discuss your situation with an experienced New York bankruptcy lawyer.
For answers to more questions about medical bankruptcy, the automatic stay, effective strategies for dealing with foreclosure, and protecting your assets in bankruptcy please feel free to contact experienced bankruptcy attorney near me Bruce Weiner for a free initial consultation.
