verushka70

50% of all bankruptcies in the country are because of medical expenses. Anything could happen and you'd have thousands in debt that would keep you in the hole for years.

Actually my bf saw something on either Frontline or some other PBS show last year that said over 60% of bankruptcies are because of medical debt. So you're definitely right; it's something to consider.

I keep hoping they'll pass a real healthcare plan for people so they don't have to pay that kind of money for care whether it's medicine, doctor visits, or hospital care.

All these frakkin' politicians who got campaign money from managed care companies are so busy trying to fight it and water it down, it makes me sick.

Well, maybe I'll just bite the bullet and do the COBRA. Better safe than sorry. Things are kind of scary now. Who knows how much worse it might get? I deliberately chose health care as a field because (1) it interested me and (2) I knew it had a future: people aren't going to stop aging and getting sicker. But that's not true for a lot of people... and they're hoping our consumerism is going to prop up the economy, when there are so many people without jobs, there IS no consuming.

My bf works as a housing counselor, trying to help people who are about to be foreclosed on or headed in that direction... but what he is hearing more and more is "No, I don't need to refi, I need a job -- can you find me a job?" Because without a job, no matter how low the monthly mortgage payment or interest rate, they're going to lose their homes anyway. And this isn't, he tells me, the people who were stupid. These are people who did everything right, and who've already been out of work so long they've cashed in their 401Ks and used up other retirement savings -- often even paying the IRS penalties for early withdrawal -- prior to coming to the housing counseling center.

It's frakkin' tragic. And it seems unstoppable.