Is the health system in the US of A truely as barbaric as it sounds?

Medical problems caused 62% of all personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. in 2007, according to a study by Harvard researchers. And in a finding that surprised even the researchers, 78% of those filers had medical insurance at the start of their illness, including 60.3% who had private coverage, not Medicare or Medicaid.

Harvard Medical School, Elizabeth Warren of Harvard Law School, and Deborah Thorne, a sociology professor at Ohio University, found that the filers were for the most part solidly middle class before medical disaster hit. Two-thirds owned their home and three-fifths had gone to college.

Compared to the general population, bankruptcy rates in 2010 were nearly twice as high among cancer patients one year after diagnosis. Of the bankruptcies caused by a cancer, a surprising 78% reported having some form of health insurance, de-bunking the myth that medical bills only really affect the uninsured. According to Duke University Medical Center, the average out-of-pocket cost for cancer patients is currently $1,266 per month that is £797

In a long life where I have lived in several European countries I have never met anyone who became bankrupt because of medical bills. Never known a cancer patient who had to worry about the risk of bankruptcy as well as the worry of having cancer.

The US is the richest country in the world, yet the only modern industrialised country in that world which do not provide health care based on need, not ability to pay.

Statistics from the OECD tell us that the number of years people live in health in the USA is 67.6 years, putting them in 22 place worldwide, other countries figures are; UK 69.6 years, Sweden, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Holland, Finland plus another eight countries where good health is over 70 years.

American males life expectancy is 74.8 years, putting them in 36th place worldwide, for both sexes combine it is 77.7 years, putting them in 35th place, behind every country in Western Europe, New Zealand, Australia and even Chilli.

Even more telling are the statistics of years people live in poor health. For American women it is 10.7 years, only Mexico and Poland in the 29 countries reported on have higher figures. For men the figure is slightly better with a term of 8 years putting America in 8th place, compared with the UK 6.6 years,

A national health care consumer advocacy group estimates that three Americans die every hour as a result of not having health insurance.

According to "Dying for Coverage," the latest report by Families USA, 72 Americans die each day, 500 Americans die every week and approximately Americans 2,175 die each month, due to lack of health insurance.

Harvard Medical School researchers found in an analysis that early 45,000 people die in the United States each year -- one every 12 minutes. Which is more Americans than drunk driving and homicide combined.

Whether it is 26 or 45 thousand people who die is unsure, it is a disgraceful way for the richest country in the world to treat it's people.

Hospitals cannot refuse immediate or life saving treatment to anyone, regardless on ability to pay.

The system is a little bit *** backwards in certain regards. For example, Medicaid helps extend health care for the very poor. However, you have to be quite poor to get it. So it leaves a big gap, and yes a hospital can turn someone away who cannot afford to pay and/or does not have insurance (assuming it is not life saving).

Barbaric isn't the word I would use. If the United States system was truly that bad, people would be dying left and right who couldn't afford to get health care. But the life expectancy in the US is right in the ballpark of other developed countries. So to your question how many are dead due to no money for health care? Probably not too many.

It is a different system to the UK NHS. It does not turn anybody away that needs urgent medical help. But, what is barbaric is the medical insurance system. Like the private medical insurance policies in the UK, the US policies have various levels of cover, but all do cover for medical needs.

No body will die from not having medical insurance any more so than a patient in the UK can't get life saving drugs for certain conditions.

No, it's not. Over here, no hospital can turn you away. If you can't pay, there is funding available to pay the hospital. When I broke two fingers in my right hand I had no job and no money. In the end the hospital bill was paid 100% through outside funding and the hand surgeon who repaired my hand forgave the entire bill except for the $1,000 I had already paid. Just with these two things it eliminated about $20,000 of my bill.

Despite what people often say, we have better health care than just about anywhere else. At least are taxes are nowhere near as high as in Europe, which needs the excessively high taxes to pay for "free" health care.

Americans are great people, without doubt, but they are also the most deceived!

I think you should listen to your mother. The situation is far far worse than you can possibly imagine. However, Americans are relentlessly told by their media that Americans are the free-est most peace-loving, most democratic people on Earth. These claims about the USA are totally untrue, but the media control humanity and until a person realizes the scale of the deception, they foolishly believe the "news" media. This is a global problem!

Hospitals can't refuse EMERGENCY treatment, just enough to save a life.

However, doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies CAN, and DO, every day, refuse to give life-saving procedures, surgeries, medications, and other treatment.

And 45,000 people die in the US every year because of it.

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/...

Doctors canNOT refuse emergency treatment. And there are MANY programs to help those who cannot pay for their own health care.

What is "barbaric" is expecting doctors and nurses to work for free. What is even MORE barbaric is expecting those of us who pay for OUR OWN to ALSO pay for YOURS

It does sound pretty awful compared to other countries

No.