Illness and medical bills cause half of all bankruptcies – EurekAlert!

[Ekhi]

Medical problems contributed to about half of all bankruptcies, involving 700,000 households in 2001, according to a story published as a Web exclusive by the journal Health Affairs. Families with children were especially hard hit-about 700,000 children lived in families that declared bankruptcy in the aftermath of serious medical problems. Another 600,000 spouses, elderly parents and other dependents brought the total number of people directly affected by medical bankruptcies to more than 2 million annually.

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