To people acting like everyone ends up in debt on purpose, feel lucky that you’ve not had financial disaster strike. Means can change in an instant, and what you thought was a huge safety net can be gone to a bad accident or hospital stay as quick as you can blink.
Know what’s fun? Waking up at 2 am and having to grab your family and whatever you can carry, because the river is now in your living room.
So many people are, as you say, in debt for reasons completely outside of their control. And it doesn’t take a lot. Bad transmission in your car, or a surprise medical bill, tree limb landing on your roof…
I got struck by a car while I was still a young college student and had no health insurance (this was before children could stay on their parents’ health insurance until they reach 26).
One of my parents is poor and the other is just a step above it, so medical bills went unpaid.
I had the joy of starting my adult life in debt, with bad credit, during the Great Recession.
Medical issues are not the only thing that can wipe out a year of salary in an instant. It’s just a straightforward example for a very large population, disaster isn’t going to be the same for everyone and if you’re someplace with strong safety nets be glad they’re there and SUPPORT them. Because I’m willing to bet you have at least one politician who’s suggested taking them away. And what may seem ridiculous today might suddenly be what’s happening if people don’t stay on top of protecting those safety nets.
Don’t you worry, I’m sure they will find a way to ruin your lives given time too. Lots of public Healthcare places are already starting to tighten the noose.
Reading accounts like this has made me realize I should worry about disability insurance coverage more than life insurance. That extra 600 bucks a year or whatever for the add on disability insurance to give me 50% more coverage seems worth it to me. Hope I never need it, but 25 bucks per paycheck seems worth it for extra peace of mind and security.
Disability insurance is something that everybody should have. You never know when you will become disabled. I became disabled in my mid-30s. Without disability insurance, I would potentially never make any money again. With it, I get 60% of my previous income until I’m 60 years old. That’s not enough to live on, but it sure is a lot better than not having anything.
Facts. I had a major health issue essentially overnight, no long term disability but decent health insurance. Maxed out my deductible 2 consecutive years, was unable to work for 10 months. Still in medical debt with no savings almost 3 years later because of this setback. Hoping to get the debt paid off in the next year and start saving up again.
Yep. Hurt my back and needed surgery, was out of work for 3 months, literally the week after I returned to my job my wife had a severe neck issue that took 9 months to diagnose then 6-12 months to recover from after surgery. So one of us has been out of work almost non stop for almost 2 and a half years now, in addition to accruing a ton of medical debit. And I have really decent insurance, but the max out of pocket is like $5000-13000 for my family. And my premium aren’t cheap either. It’s unfortunate.
Which is precisely something anyone outside the US (or other countries without a functional social healthcare system) don’t understand. Nobody outside those places is as worried about their healthcare costs dragging them into debt. Which makes sense, considering there’s no reason why an ambulance should cost between 5 and 10 thousand dollars, or a drug having to cost 5000 times the production price, when it’s initial development was funded by US taxpayers.
Eh, plenty of people here in Europe go into horrendous debt after an unwanted change in circumstances. Maybe not medical debt (to some countries), but many lose jobs, homes, income, and more.
