Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. 4 This bill was the most significant set of amendments to the Bankruptcy Code in a generation and substantially restricted debt relief for individual filers.Lawmakers who opposed the bankruptcy bill cited a 2005 study by Himmelstein, Thome, Warren, and Woolhandler finding that approximately half of bankruptcies were medical-related.5 Supporters of the bankruptcy bill countered with a court record analysis conducted within the Department of Justice (DOJ).According to the DOJ analysis, over half of the sample (54%) had no medical debt at all, the average medical debt among those with any such debt was under $5,000, and medical debt comprised only 5.5% of the total unsecured debt of the sample.6 More recently, debates about health care finance intensified public interest in the financial impact of medical bills and these methodological disputes.In the summer of 2009, Himmelstein et al. reported that 62% of personal bankruptcies could be construed as medical-related.7 President Obama used medical bankruptcy rates as a rationale for health care reform.8 Lawmakers held hearings on whether the current health care system is bankrupting American families.At one such hearing in July 2009, Representative John Conyers cited the 4. Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, Pub.L. No. 109-8, 119 Stat.23 (2005).5. See infra Part 11.A.2. 6. See infra p. 265, tbl.l. 7. David U.
Source: PubMed
Authors: Melissa B Jacoby, Mirya Holman
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1532256543