articles with misleading or Wrong information

[Smallsteps]

I like to read various articles especially when it comes to money issues. I am getting so discouraged that the jobs of editor must have all but disappeared. I clicked on an article
" Sky-high deductibles broke the US health insurance system " had a Bloomberg tag on it.
It spoke of the fact these super high deductible insurance plans are creating a disaster for many. The family it spoke of had a few health crisis and found themselves underwater so far all believable now my question.

The article ends saying " now for the SECOND time is less then FOUR years they are filing for bankruptcy"
Now I can understand if different states have different rules I was just under the impression that it was 7 years in between filings. Is there different time limits on bankruptcy by location/ state whatever??

[jacklpalmer]

I like to read various articles especially when it comes to money issues. I am getting so discouraged that the jobs of editor must have all but disappeared. I clicked on an article
" Sky-high deductibles broke the US health insurance system " had a Bloomberg tag on it.
It spoke of the fact these super high deductible insurance plans are creating a disaster for many. The family it spoke of had a few health crisis and found themselves underwater so far all believable now my question.

The article ends saying " now for the SECOND time is less then FOUR years they are filing for bankruptcy"
Now I can understand if different states have different rules I was just under the impression that it was 7 years in between filings. Is there different time limits on bankruptcy by location/ state whatever??

Ugh - yeah, that's a good article to skip right there. Sky-high deductibles aren't what has broken the US Health Insurance System - if anything, that's a symptom from how it is broken.

I'm not a bankruptcy lawyer, but I think you can file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy four years after filing a Chapter 7. Or you can wait 2 years to File a Chapter 13 after another Chapter 13. Feel free to fact check me on that - not 100% on it. From filing one Chapter 7 to another Chapter 7, I think the waiting period is actually 8 years, not 7.

[disneysteve]

It spoke of the fact these super high deductible insurance plans are creating a disaster for many.

This speaks to something I've mentioned earlier about people not understanding their insurance plan. If you're going to take a high deductible plan, you had better be prepared to pay that deductible. If you have a $5,000 deductible and have no emergency fund, or maybe a few hundred dollars, what do you think is going to happen?

People buy insurance with the mindset that nothing will ever go wrong and they won't ever have to use it. Then they get upset when something happens and they find that their plan doesn't fit their needs. Sorry, but you should have thought of that before you bought the policy.

[Smallsteps]

I know many of these articles are written in a way to try to make people feel sympathy for whatever family or person they write about.
I am not even sure the example " family " is not made up. It really loses readers when they start writing about things like the 2nd bankruptcy in 4 years, that would make people say "I do not think that is accurate".
On the same day had some article about a person that had according to headline a warrant for arrest for not paying student loans …. When you started to read you find it is a civil warrant for failure to appear for a court date. The misleading headlines and then the stories that seem to make no sense at all because whatever circumstances snowball in a almost impossible perfect storm of bad turn of events to prove their point.
Yet they think the article is informing people about a subject like money issues.

This speaks to something I've mentioned earlier about people not understanding their insurance plan. If you're going to take a high deductible plan, you had better be prepared to pay that deductible. If you have a $5,000 deductible and have no emergency fund, or maybe a few hundred dollars, what do you think is going to happen?

I too do not understand why so many seem surprised by getting bills when they chose a high deductible plan. I have seen so many who just act like they were blindsided when they signed up for the plan.
I do not buy the Idea that people cannot come up with an emergency fund it just makes some feel better about not saving one because all these stories suggest it is not their fault instead it must be the big bad insurance world.

[creditcardfree]

I could probably write a book on articles with bias or misleading information. The more informed you are on a topic, the more obvious it is.

[disneysteve]

all these stories suggest it is not their fault

We live in a society where everyone is a victim. Nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions. If something goes wrong, it must be somebody else's fault.

Get driven into bankruptcy because you couldn't pay the deductible on your health insurance? Clearly, that is the fault of the insurance company .

Crash your car while driving drunk? Sue the bartender who served you.

Trip and fall on the sidewalk because you were too busy texting to look where you were going? Sue the owner of the property where you happened to fall.

The stories go on and on.

All of that said, working in the medical field, I do truly believe that most people simply have no clue whatsoever how their insurance works and what it does or doesn't cover. It isn't adequately explained to them when they sign up and they don't know enough to ask the right questions. I've seen many patients totally blindsided every January when they were told they had a deductible to meet before their insurance kicked in. I don't think they were playing dumb. I think they truly didn't have the slightest idea.

[jacklpalmer]

All of that said, working in the medical field, I do truly believe that most people simply have no clue whatsoever how their insurance works and what it does or doesn't cover. It isn't adequately explained to them when they sign up and they don't know enough to ask the right questions. I've seen many patients totally blindsided every January when they were told they had a deductible to meet before their insurance kicked in. I don't think they were playing dumb. I think they truly didn't have the slightest idea.

Health Insurance is complicated. It certainly hasn't become any less complicated over the last few years, either. By my estimation, a lot of this has a core problem with the Group Health Insurance model. People when enrolling into a health plan from their job are often given little more than a sheet of paper with some prices showing how much will be deducted from their payroll. Simple right? I need insurance, but why pay more? I'll check the box with the lowest dollar amount on it. Then they trip down the stairs and end up in your office with a plan that's going to get them gauged.

I'm going to put some shame on my field with what I'm about to say - but health insurance brokers have gotten lazy over the last decade, too. Some of it is because of massively decreased commissions. A lot of us are struggling to make ends meet, let alone hire staff to keep up with everything.

The health insurance exchanges aren't helping either. The DIY approach doesn't work for 99% of health insurance consumers, for a lot of the same reasons.

I try to make it a point to be as actively involved with my group clients as possible. I tell my clients to just have their employees call me. I consider their employees as clients, too. Even I have limits to how much I can handle, though. Most brokers don't go that far. They'll help sign the group up and maybe help with renewals, but otherwise ghost the clients. Their employees don't often have anyone to consult with for any realistic answers.

[Keshet]

We live in a society where everyone is a victim. Nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions. If something goes wrong, it must be somebody else's fault.

Get driven into bankruptcy because you couldn't pay the deductible on your health insurance? Clearly, that is the fault of the insurance company .

Crash your car while driving drunk? Sue the bartender who served you.

Trip and fall on the sidewalk because you were too busy texting to look where you were going? Sue the owner of the property where you happened to fall.

The stories go on and on.

All of that said, working in the medical field, I do truly believe that most people simply have no clue whatsoever how their insurance works and what it does or doesn't cover. It isn't adequately explained to them when they sign up and they don't know enough to ask the right questions. I've seen many patients totally blindsided every January when they were told they had a deductible to meet before their insurance kicked in. I don't think they were playing dumb. I think they truly didn't have the slightest idea.

And people who don't have a clue which hospitals are in their insurance network and which aren't.