Was Trumps a "medical bankruptcy"? Hard to believe he doesn't spend $5K a year on medical care - his botox and hair transplants probably cover that.
Beware of the Bogus US Health Care Bashing Studies
By: Jim Hoft
August was a brutal month for democrats. The economy continued to decline. The unemployment rate hovered at 9.5 percent. The 2010 budget deficit forecast was revised up by a whopping 19 percent to $1.5 trillion. The stimulus did not snap the economy out of its recession as promised. The Congressional polling numbers were down. Even Barack Obama could not escape the tsunami of bad news. His approval rating sank to the lowest level of his presidency to 46 percent.
To top it all off, the tea party protesters hammered Congressional democrats all month long on their planned takeover of nation's health care system. This was supposed to be their month to win back public opinion but instead, in town hall after town hall, the democrats were pounded over their health care rationing plan. Even the attacks by the democratic leadership on the protesters, calling them un-American and comparing them to *** and mobsters, could not sway the American public. By the end of August 53 percent of nationwide voters were opposed to the democratic health care plan.
It will be tough for democrats to push their nationalized health care bill through Congress with an unpopular bill, an unpopular Congress and a sinking president. But, they're not backing down. Despite their past failings this year they are determined to ram their bill through Congress this fall. And, to help turn public opinion in their direction they are citing several bogus studies to persuade voters that the United States needs a nationalized health care system now more than ever.
One questionable study that is gaining a lot of traction with the democratic politicians is the medical bankruptcy study. This study, Medical Bankruptcy in the United States, 2007: Results of a National Study, found that 62 percent of all bankruptcies filed in 2007 were linked to medical expenses. Of those who filed for bankruptcy, nearly 80 percent had health insurance.
John C. Goodman, the "Father of Health Savings Accounts", debunked this study in a recent posting on his blog.
President Obama frequently parrots the thoroughly discredited "statistic" that one third of personal bankruptcies are medical bankruptcies. The propagandists of "medical bankruptcy" have now upped the ante with a new study published this week, in which Drs. David Himmelstein, Steffie Woolhandler, and colleagues, report that 62 percent of personal bankruptcies in 2007 were "medical bankruptcies." The authors are leaders of the Physicians for a National Health Program, who have promoted government-monopoly medicine for decades.
As with previous studies of medical bankruptcy, this study puts forward a number of definitions of "medical bankruptcy" and defines any bankruptcy with any one of these conditions as suffering medical bankruptcy. The one that immediately stands out is "medical bills over $5,000 or 10 percent of household income on medical care." (So, if Donald Trump had gone bankrupt in 2007 with $5001 of medical bills, he would be "medically bankrupt.")
Megan McArdle at The Atlantic also refuted this study adding:
The fact that it seems to disagree with every other study I've ever read that is not authored by Elizabeth Warren, and also, the self-reports of the people in her study (only about a third of whom attribute their bankruptcy to a health problem) could just be a fluke. It doesn't necessarily mean that it's wrong. Yet upon closer examination, it turns out that it is not just wrong, but actively, aggressively wrong.
The National Coalition on Health Care (NCHC) is also spreading around questionable statistics from a very dubious study. According to their website, about 1.5 million families lose their homes to foreclosure every year due to unaffordable medical costs. The NCHC took this from a study by Robertson, Egelhof and Hoke, "Get Sick, Get Out: The Medical Causes of Home Mortgage Foreclosures". But, in March of 2007 Bloomberg reported that 1.5 million Americans out of a total of 80 million will lose their homes through foreclosure during the present decline in the economy. And, as many as 2.2 million borrowers are at risk of losing their homes from subprime mortgages originated from 1998 through 2006. This year the number of bankruptcies in the US skyrocketed to 1.31 million for the year ending in June. If there were only 1.3 million bankruptcies this past year then obviously Robertson's claim that 1.5 million families lose their homes to foreclosure each year to unaffordable medical costs is not accurate.
Finally, Jerome Groopman and Pamela Hartzland at The Wall Street Journal reported on several other US health care myths. Here is a whopper that is often repeated by the Obamacare folks.
The World Health Organization ranks the U.S. 37th In the world in quality. This is another frightening statistic. It is also not accurate. Yet the head of the National Committee for Quality Assurance, a powerful organization influencing both the government and private insurers in defining quality of care, has stated this as fact.
Man, those socializers love their scare tactics. You're gonna be ruined financially and our health care is like a third world nations. You have to scare people into giving up their freedoms for a dubious government guarantee that Uncle Nanny will take care of you.
The World Health Organization ranks the U.S. No. 1 among all countries in "responsiveness." Responsiveness has two components: respect for persons (including dignity, confidentiality and autonomy of individuals and families to make decisions about their own care), and client orientation (including prompt attention, access to social support networks during care, quality of basic amenities and choice of provider). This is what Americans rightly understand as quality care and worry will be lost in the upheaval of reform. Our country's composite score fell to 37 primarily because we lack universal coverage and care is a financial burden for many citizens.
In other words the US ranks last in the standings because we do not have a nationalized system but first in the rankings in responsiveness and respect for patients. Which would you rather have?
These are just three flawed studies that democrats are pushing in order to pass their health care bill. Keep your eyes open. These won't be the last.
Jim Hoft's Bio
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