houndawg wrote:AZGrizFan wrote:
Which would mean that 50% had medical bills (out of pocket) of $12,000 or LESS and still couldn't handle them. That speaks WAY more to this population's tendency to NOT save, to live paycheck to paycheck (and WELL beyond their means) than a failure of the medical or insurance industries.
No, it wouldn't mean that; you're confusing "average" with "median".
You're correct that saving isn't our thing, but saving isn't encouraged in the US; since the end of WW2 it has been consuming that is encouraged and facilitated by easy credit. More recently there is the fact of the shrinking middle class. People
can't save, as opposed to
won't save.
BS. BS. BS. You're correct about confusing median with average. However, if the AVERAGE medical bills are $12,000, there's still a fuck of a lot of people out there with virtually no savings. And it ain't that people "can't" save. It's that they WON'T. And please, for the love of God, quit blaming access to easy credit. You've got access to a gun, that doesn't mean you're going to put a bullet in your mouth, does it? HAVING credit and USING credit to buy everything under the sun are two wholly different things. I WAS that guy until about two years ago. I haven't used a credit card in two years and have spent the bulk of my income paying back what I'd borrowed over the previous 10 years. I was NOT a saver. I am now. It requires LIFESTYLE change, and THAT is what people WON'T do. We're a "keep-up-with-the-Joness" society. As Baldy said, they need the latest cell phone, the quads, the RV, the boat, the timeshare, kids in private school, bigger house than their neighbor with a nicer pool, fancier car, etc., etc., etc.
The biggest mistake EVER made in this country was developing an economy based on consumption. Baldy is right, it IS a vicious circle, getting more vicious by the minute. A consumption economy is like crack cocaine, and it ain't gonna be easy to change. But if we don't this is only a harbinger of much worse things to come.
