Medical Problems Put Middle Class at Bankruptcy Risk
The fact that illness and injury present a significant economic risk to the middle class shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone; Ted Kennedy talked about it in his 1972 book, and medical expenses have multiplied dramatically since that time.
Studies of bankruptcy petitioners conducted in the late 1990s and early 2000s revealed that approximately half of all bankruptcy petitioners had been seriously impacted by illness / injury and medical expenses. That alone might come as a surprise to the credit industry mouthpieces who would have us believe (and who managed to convince Congress) that bankruptcy petitioners are a bunch of deadbeats with high credit card bills and no sense of financial responsibility, but here's an even bigger surprise: the vast majority of those bankruptcy petitioners knocked down by medical bills had medical insurance.