explanade
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- May 10, 2008
- Messages
- 7,448
I have always wondered about people going bankrupt because of medical bills. I understand the 'old' days where insurance only covered up to $1M and you had to buy over that.
Assuming you have coverage, and you use a in-network facility, you have a max OOP. AKAIK, youy can never be asked to pay more in that calendar year. If you are prepared for the OOP expense, you should be fine. If you are not prepared, you were probably destined to go bankrupt anyway.
I have a friend that uses a out-of-network facility (Mayo) because he thinks it's better. He is worried about going broke. I do not know if there are any studies that say life expectancy is better getting care at the Mayo or not. Either way, going broke would be his choice, no different than if I buy a larger home than I can afford.
I know there is an issue with in-network facilities using out-of-network doctors working there, but I think that is not all that common. And I think a refusal to pay would be in order.
How and why do people go bankrupt with the ACA and OOPs in place?
First of all you're assuming that people on ACA plans have gone bankrupt.
I'd like to hear even anecdotes about that because that shouldn't happen.
ACA got rid of lifetime caps for one thing. I hit my OOP and have been doing a lot of things which are not urgent, such as cataract surgery, in the last two months.
One of my doctors say December is a busy time for them because there are many patients who try to take advantage of hitting their deductibles or OOP to take care of many things.
Before the ACA, you could easily hit lifetime caps for things like cancer or treatment which included months of hospital stay. Those were the kinds of cases driving bankruptcies from health care.