If you can avoid the hospital, it’s good for more than just your health. It may actually have a dramatic impact on your bank account and your financial future. After all, medical bills are one of the leading reasons for bankruptcy in the United States.
The reasons for the high cost of health services in the United States
You may be wondering why modern healthcare is so expensive that it sends many people into wild amounts of debt that they can’t pay off. In the United States, some of the main reasons are:
- There are a lot of administrative costs that have little to do with your care.
- In cases with multiple administrative systems, a lot of waste gets created.
- Doctors and nurses enjoy higher wages (over $300,000 per year, on average, for a specialist) and someone has to pay those salaries.
- Drug costs are high and have only been climbing, elevating the costs.
- Some people have insurance policies that have high deductibles or do not cover the care they actually need. Others do not have insurance at all.
Overall, though, it’s that hospitals were designed to make money, rather than to provide a service. For instance, if you had a blocked blood vessel and needed an angioplasty in the Netherlands, it would cost around $6,390. If you had the exact same procedure in the United States, it would cost $32,230. When it costs five times as much for the exact same procedure, bills get high quickly.
How bankruptcy can help you cope with medical debts
If you’re facing debt due to medical bills or for any other reason, you may be able to use bankruptcy to put an end to your financial struggles.
