Most coverage comes from jobs
About 159 million people in the United States got their health insurance last year through employer-sponsored health insurance, according to the latest data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Another 14 million people bought insurance through private plans. Most of the rest who have insurance are covered by the government through Medicaid or Medicare.
For most customers, that system works just fine. But for some, simply having health insurance is no guarantee they can pay for health care, noted Len Nichols, a health economist at the nonpartisan New America Foundation. He’s a vocal advocate for insurance reforms now being crafted in Congress, so long as they make U.S. health care cheaper, more accessible and higher quality than it is now.
In part, the push for health reform is aimed at fixing a health insurance system that can financially ruin Americans who face sudden illness or injury. In 2007, nearly two-thirds of all bankruptcies in the U.S. were tied to medical debt, and nearly 80 percent of those who filed for protection were insured at onset of illness, according to a June study in the American Journal of Medicine.
“Basically, no one’s coverage is secure,” said Nichols. “A large number of people have not had a disaster in the health care system, so they don’t know how bad it is. It could happen to any of us at any time.”
For three families who responded to msnbc.com, it already has. Here are their confirmed tales of medical billing disaster.
Sick child ravages family finances
Before their second child was born, Courtney and Isaac Elliott shunned most things medical and didn’t understand why anyone wouldn’t. They had a healthy little girl, Aniyah, now 5, and good insurance provided by Aetna through Isaac’s job.
“I ate all organic and I never took any medicine and I had a medication-free birth,” said Courtney Elliott, who goes by the nickname “Courey.” “I had my baby at home.”
Linden arrived on Dec. 15, 2006, a dark-haired, dark-eyed baby who within days revealed severe problems. He had trouble breathing and needed surgery to correct a malformed larynx.
He couldn’t swallow well, and breast milk wound up in his lungs instead of his stomach. Within weeks, he needed to be fed solely through a tube. Other puzzling problems emerged as well: He couldn’t regulate his body temperature, he had trouble with motor skills, his bowels didn’t work right. Join the discussion |
