Read in Kaiser Health News. Call it “Mexicare”: Fed up with high medical bills, a family crosses the border. The Fierro family owed a Yuma, Arizona, hospital more than $7,000 for care given to mom and dad, so when a son dislocated his shoulder, they headed to Mexico. The care was quick, good, and affordable. The Fierros were trapped in a situation that more and more Americans find themselves in: They are what some experts term “functionally uninsured.”
There are countless stories of people with good paying jobs and “good” employer sponsored coverage who find themselves unable to pay for healthcare. Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the U.S. and it decreases the ability to save for retirement, purchase a home, take a vacation …
And all of this is happening in times of record profits for health plans and health systems. Is this yet another example of cultural decline in the richest nation in the world?