The Mass Murder Of America

 

In 2006 I was selling mortgages, but not just any mortgages I was selling those sub-prime, interest only, nothing down, debt consolidation, 30 day ARM, you don’t know what the hell you just got yourself into, mortgages.  Now sure, just like the SS guards, I was only following orders that my generals from Countrywide told me to follow, but I knew what I was doing and quite frankly couldn’t believe that some of the loans that I sold, people actually went for.   Now to be honest, I never tricked anyone into anything.  I told them exactly what they were getting and how the loan worked, but to be fair most of the people I spoke to weren’t exactly financial geniuses.  They were just happy that all of their credit card bills, medical bills, car loans, and student loans, were going to be paid off, they were going to get $3000 in cash, and would now have only one payment instead of thirty.  Never mind I was raising their interest rate 4 points, there 6 year car loan just turned into a 30 year car loan, and the amount of interest they were going to pay over the life of the loan increased 20 fold.  They were just happy they had cash, and more money in their pocket each month, that is until the interest rate went up 2 years later, changed every month, and they maxed out all of their credit cards again, but by that time I was out of the game and Countrywide, well if you’ve seen the news, you know what happened to Countrywide.   But during that time I got to read hundreds of credit reports, and I didn’t need an international study to tell me what was crystal clear from reading all these credit reports.  The biggest reason that people had filed for bankruptcy was due to medical bills and medical premiums they could not afford.  These were everyday Americans just like you and me.  Most of them had health insurance but it only took one catastrophic illness to destroy them financially and ruin everything that they had worked so hard for there entire lives.
 
Last year, In a article published in the Washington Post it stated that according to a nationwide study released by the American Journal of Medicine “Sixty-two percent of all bankruptcies filed in 2007 were linked to medical expenses…and nearly 80 percent had health insurance.”  In addition, the Article stated that the authors of the study concluded that the financing of health care in this country is “broken” and that middle class families, “frequently collapse under the strain of the health care system that treats physical wounds, but inflicts fiscal ones.” By comparison, in 1981 only 8% of families filing for bankruptcy cited medical expenses as the primary reason for filing.  But what most don’t realize is that this problem is no longer simply an issue of affordable healthcare for all Americans.  The reality is, Health Care Finance Reform is the single most important issue affecting every American on this planet.  In the history of our nation there has never been an issue more vital to the continued health, welfare and economic growth of our country as reforming health care.  What I frankly can not understand is why this issue has not been emphasized more, of how vitally important economically health reform is to our county.  So let's break it down. In 2009 there were 1,400,000 bankruptcies filed in the U.S. and 62% were due to medical expenses.  Than means 868,000 Americans filed for bankruptcy due to medical expenses.  So we are talking about 868,000 Americans that because of medical expenses, because of a broken health care finance system, have to put so much of there personal income towards paying off uncovered medical expenses that they have nothing left to invest in personal savings, buying real estate, purchasing cars, opening businesses, paying for college, or buying any of the other millions of goods and services that are so vital to growing our national economy and would help to bring us out of this economic hole that we have been in for the last nine years.  Even Americans who are fortunate enough to be able to afford there medical expenses and don’t have to file bankruptcy still have to divert funds from other goods, services and investments that could be benefiting the grown of our economy.  The issue of health Care Finance Reform makes every other issue pale by comparison including Jobs.  Ask any economist in this county, if you want to bring back jobs you have to stimulate the economy.  People have to have money to buy goods and services.  If so much of our money is being diverted to medical expenses that American are going bankrupt, growing our economy becomes that much more difficult.  In California insurance costs are rising by as much as 40 percent.  This means more money going towards insurance premiums and less going into our economy.  It means more business that have to pay more for group health insurance and have to make choices on how to pay for those increases.  They can pass the cost along to there workers who will then have less in there paycheck, or they can reduce benefits to keep rates down but then the workers will have to put more out for uncovered services, or they can pass the costs along to you and me by raising the price of there goods and services to cover the increase in insurance costs.  All of that translates to more going to pay for health care and less going to everything else.  And then there are those who can't afford health care insurance, or those with a pre-existing condition who can’t get covered, or those with chronic illnesses who have maxed out there coverage and have to pay every penny of there health care themselves and have to pick and choose what they get treated for and pray that nothing serious happens.  How do these people pay for goods and services that help grow our economy when most of there income is going to health care costs?  If you want to bring back jobs, reduce the cost of health care to all Americans, eliminate bankruptcies due to medical expenses, allow Americans to spend there money on goods and services rather then medical bills and insurance premiums.   Make it more affordable for small business to provide group coverage to there employees so that small businesses can compete in the job market for qualified employees, and have more capitol to grow there businesses.  Our current health care finance system is killing our economy.  I've said it before and I’ll say it again, this is not a political issue, this is a human issue.  Both Democrats and Republicans need to step up and do what is right for this country and stop making it about what is in it for them.  We need reform that eliminates pre-existing conditions, eliminates caps on coverage, and brings down costs, and the only way that is going to happen is with a true public option that is available too all Americans.  With out that the insurance giants will continue to have no competition and no reason to reduce costs and the only ones who will see more money in there pockets will be the CEOs of the Health Insurance giants.  And you and me, regardless of income, will be only one catastrophic illness away from financial ruin.