Quote:Are you talking about the US? Here, the lower your income the less you pay. In my state the Medicaid (free) threshold is 275% of federal poverty level. Which, this year would be $60,637.50 for a family of four. The median income for 2009 was $83,444. And, then you have other programs, like SChip.Yes, I'm talking about the US. Medical debt is a serious problem. Not everyone is eligible for Medicaid, not everyone who is eligible actually gets it, and many people/families are caught in a bad situation without insurance, or more likely with inadequate insurance. That usually means running up debt. Even for families with good insurance, the increasing cost of health care is slowly driving them closer to, or deeper into, debt.
I don't think people are stupid. But they're not infinitely rational, and when an expensive, low probability event hits, that can mean maxing out the credit cards on a "temporary" basis, that cripples them for years to come.
Quote:I agree though about credit. Credit is evil, and we should vastly curtail it. I'm not sure how, but one step would be to repeal the changes they made to bankruptcy laws in 2005 that made it harder for people to file bankruptcy. This would make lenders more wary again about to whom, and how much credit they extended.I don't think credit is evil, and I don't think it should be vastly curtailed. Tighter regulation would be a step forward. How to solve the problem of people using credit is another story. Partly, I think the issue is education - people aren't as rational as we think they are. But the other part is expenses. People are encouraged to buy homes when they shouldn't be. The idea of universal homeownership is politically sacred, but economically stupid. Health care is another area.
-Jester