HEALTH CARE REFORM MAY NOT REDUCE MEDICAL BANKRUPTCIES

A new study finds that the Massachusetts health care reform law—a model for national reform—did not improve coverage and has left many still struggling with medical debt, the Los Angeles Times reported today. Proponents of the national health care reform enacted last year have claimed that it would reduce medical bankruptcy in the United States by helping more Americans get insurance. The new study published today in the American Journal of Medicine suggests that a reduction in bankruptcies is unlikely. To gauge whether health care reform in Massachusetts has eased bankruptcies, the researchers looked at a random sample of Massachusetts bankruptcy filers in July 2009, sending surveys to almost 500 households. They compared their results to national and Massachusetts data collected in 2007, before the Massachusetts reform was implemented in 2008. They found that while the percentage was down slightly, medical bills still contributed to 52.9 percent of all bankruptcies in the state. Absolute numbers of medical bankruptcies were up by a third. Total bankruptcies in Massachusetts went up 51 percent between 2007 and 2009.

http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-obamacare-insurance-costs-03082011,0,981846,print.story