The Radical Right Says, "F**K YOU, PAY ME!"

"If the debtor be insolvent to serve creditors, let his body be cut in pieces on the third market day. It may be cut into more or fewer pieces with impunity. Or, if his creditors consent to it, let him be sold to foreigners beyond the Tiber."

A report released last month by Harvard Medical and Law has been nice enough to point out that our bankruptcy system works differently from ancient Rome's; creditors carve up the debtor's assets, not the debtor.

They were also nice enough to point out that after conducting their survey they found out that half of the bankruptcy filings in 2001 were due to medical causes. Here are some highlights from their study;

Who Files For Bankruptcy?

The average debtor was a 41-year-old woman with children, and at least some college education. On average, each bankruptcy involved 1.32 debtors with 1.33 dependents. The 1.4 million personal bankruptcies filed in 2001 involved a total of 3.7 million people: 1.9 million were the debtor and the other 1.8 million were their children or dependents. More than one quarter cited illness or injury as reasons for their bankruptcy, 46.2% fit the criteria for "major medical bankruptcy," 54.5% met the criteria for "any medical bankruptcy."

During the two years before filing, 40.3% had lost telephone service; 19.4% had gone without food; 53.6% went without needed doctor or dentist visits because of the cost (but wait, aren't they sick?); and 43.0% had failed to fill a prescription (but wait, how do they get better?).

Following bankruptcy filings, about one-third of debtors continued to have problems paying bills (under the new law they should have no problem paying some of it back). 3.1% were turned down for jobs (don't worry, they will be able to pay it back); 5.8% were turned down for mortgages; 4.9% were turned down for apartment rentals; and 9.3% were turned down for car loans because of the bankruptcy on their credit reports.

In three-quarters of cases the person experiencing the illness/injury was the debtor; in 13.3% a child; and in 8.2% an elderly relative.

Almost 60% of families bankrupted by medical problems indicated medical bills (from medical providers) as the primary reason for bankruptcy; 47.6% cited drug costs; 35.3% had curtailed employment because of illness---often (52.8%) to care for someone else.

Almost 76% of these debtors were insured at the onset; 60.1% initially had private coverage, but one-third of them lost coverage during the course of their illness. 5.7% had Medicare, 8.4% had Medicaid and 1.6% were veterans with military coverage.

The Human Face of Bankruptcy

Debtors' narratives painted a picture of families arriving at the bankruptcy courthouse emotionally and financially exhausted, hoping to stop the collection calls, save their homes, and stabilize their economic circumstances.

Many of the debtors detailed ongoing problems in access to care. Some expressed fear that their medical providers would refuse to continue their care, and a few recounted actual experiences of this kind. Several had used credit cards to charge medical bills they had no hope of paying.

The co-occurrence of medical and job problems was a common theme. For instance one debtor underwent lung surgery and suffered a heart attack. Both hospitalizations were covered by his employer-paid insurance, but he was unable to return to his physically-demanding [sic] job. He found new employment, but was denied coverage due to his pre-existing conditions which required costly ongoing care. Similarly, a school-teacher who suffered a heart attack was unable to return to work for many months, and hence her coverage lapsed. A hospital wrote off her $20,000 debt, but she was nonetheless bankrupted by doctor bills and the cost of medications.

A second common theme was sounded by parents of premature infants or chronically ill children; many took time off from work or incurred large bills for home-care while they were at their jobs.

Finally, many of the insured debtors blamed high co-payments and deductibles for their financial ruin. For example, a man insured through his employer (a large national firm) suffered a broken leg and torn knee ligaments. He incurred $13,000 in out-of-pocket costs for co-payments, deductibles and uncovered services---much of it for physical therapy.

It's time to play political hard ball with this issue! If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. If you don't want to play with the big dogs than go sit on the porch you rightwing corporate lap dogs!

Before you radical, Bible thumping, ass clowns start spewing onto your blogs that people need to be responsible for their bills and stop applying for credit cards, maybe you should do some research and think for yourselves. Your usual ramblings of the rightwing party line are not only getting boring, they are downright ignorant to the problem at hand.

"It seems to me to be fair to those people to whom they pay their debt. We preserve the principle of a fresh start, but we also establish a principle that if one has the ability to repay some of their debt, they are not going to get off scot-free,"

Senator Charles E. Grassley

Now let me be the first to translate this into plain English so that all you rightwing nuts can understand the basic concept of the new law if passed;

“That’s the way it was with a wise guy partner. He gets his money no matter what. You got no business? Fuck you, pay me. You had a fire? Fuck you, pay me.  The place got hit by lighting and World War III started in the lounge? Fuck you, pay me…”

Mobster Henry Hill

This is not a Republican versus Democrat issue! We all get sick in similar ways and all have the same problems with medical coverage. This is about greedy corporations wanting more and Bush & Co. all to happy to oblige them. Is this what you call compassionate conservatism?

So, if this law passes the House, all you rightwing fanatics that think this is all about people being more responsible with their credit cards can take this post, put it in your pipe, smoke it, get cancer, go bankrupt from treatments, claim bankruptcy, get turned down and die (in that order)!

And to think they also wanted to cut Medicaid!

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