A new study released earlier this month revealed that 60% of bankruptcies are filed due to overwhelming medical bills.  What’s incredible is that of those bankruptcies 75% of the filers have health insurance!  This revelation speaks volumes to those who insist the insurance industry needs no overhaul.   Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University participated in this report and the results were published in the American Journal of Medicine.  Dr. David Himmelstein, an advocate of a U.S. insurance overhaul and a member of the Harvard Medical School staff says that those of us without a bank account to rival Warren Buffet are only “a serious illness away from bankruptcy”.  He goes so far to say that health insurance offers little, if any, protection for middle-class America.

Other findings in this study include:

• The proposals that are now being considered by the Obama White House will not likely help a vast majority of Americans.
• Expanding private insurance won’t prevent financial catastrophe for hundreds of thousands of Americans.
• Of the 170 million Americans who have health insurance through their employers, many will find themselves with none by year’s end due to employers cutting their own costs.
• 25% of all insurance companies cancel coverage immediately after a disabling illness occurs and is filed, another 25% do so within the twelve months following the claim.

No one is immune from bankruptcy, either.  The study found that most were educated, owned their homes and had successful careers.  Further, the numbers reflect a 50% increase from bankruptcies filed in 2001. 

For many who were asked to pay thousands of dollars after the insurance paid, such as those with injuries or who were diagnosed with Diabetes or other illnesses, the payments were just too much.  Many hospitals and physicians asked patients to make payments that rivaled their automobile or in some instances, those that surpassed even the patient’s mortgage payments.

President Obama continues to work on solutions to the ever-deepening concerns and fears for health care in this country.  Until these problems are met head on and with a consistent solution across the board that will address insurance, bankruptcies and job losses, these numbers won’t be declining.

Nebraska has had twenty children dropped off at hospitals since July, when their safe haven law took effect. Sadly, some of the abandoned kids are teenagers whose parents either don’t want them or can’t take care of them because they’re “problem kids”. Earlier this week, a woman drove from Georgia to Nebraska to drop off her 12 year old son because she said he was troubled. What awaits these older kids, who clearly know they’re not wanted and will forever carry the knowledge that they were abandoned by their parents - parents they’ve known for years - remains to be seen. Many of these abandoned kids aren’t newborns or even toddlers who have the luxury of not remembering being left on the steps of a hospital. Further, Nebraska’s loophole is putting state officials and medical personnel in a tough position. They don’t know what to do with these older kids, so those who have come from two other states, Missouri and Iowa, have been returned to their home states. Try to put yourself into the mind of a 17 year old whose mother insisted he get into the car, probably with very few of his possessions and possibly with only the clothes he’s wearing. Imagine sitting next to the one person you’re supposed to trust to take care of you and never abandon you for a four hour drive, knowing the destination is the end of the line. You know you will likely never see your parents or siblings again, and you know you’re being dropped off on the street in a city and state you’ve never been to. And then, after getting out of the vehicle, you watch what little safety you’ve known drive away. And then what? Most seventeen year olds would bolt and make a run for a better life. This particular teenager, probably scared to make a run for it to strike out on his own, walked into the hospital and told a hospital official he’d just been abandoned and had nowhere to go. After being the topic of several discussions, the decision is made to return him to his home state. So, once again, he’s on a road trip, having no idea what awaits him but knowing he’ll be once again dropped off with strangers who will determine his immediate future. Because of the way the legislature worded its state safe have laws, the parents can’t be prosecuted. So, in January, state officials are planning to meet and revise the law to apply only to newborns less than three days old.

In the case of the child dropped off this week from Georgia, he was suspended in the first grade and had his own probation officer by the time he was in fifth grade. Something tells me this kid didn’t have a chance. For a probation officer to be involved at such a young age, I’m thinking this “problem child” is a result of a “problem adult”. Hopefully, even though there won’t be any repercussions in Nebraska, there will be consequences in the mother’s home state of Georgia.

Unfortunately, this happens all too often every day with different results, but with a ribbon of heartbreak weaved through each case. In the meantime, Nebraska will be deciding what to do with the twelve year old boy from Georgia.