Study: Half of U.S. Bankruptcies Due to Medical Bills

From Reuters today:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Half of all U.S. bankruptcies are caused by soaring medical bills and most people sent into debt by illness are middle-class workers with health insurance, researchers said on Wednesday.

Full story, worth reading: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=594&e=2&u=/nm/20050202/hl_nm/health_bank ruptcy_dc

This is incredible data, and ought to be part of the policy debate.  This ought to be appreciated alongside the fact that many people, rather than exercise their entrepreneurial spirit, stay stuck in dead-end jobs just to hang onto their health insurance.  In short, it's becoming easier and easier to make the case that guaranteed health care is good economics, good for capitalism, and good for everyone's bottom lines.  There ought to be an intensified, concerted, sustained effort to press ("frame?") this point.

(Note also, for another day, this interesting item: "He said fewer than 1 percent of all bankruptcy filings were due to credit card debt. 'That truly is a myth,' Cauthen said in a telephone interview.")