True story from someone bankrupted by medical bills: With a mortgage, car payment, student loans, credit cards, a cell phone, and cable; most of the middle class has very little in the way of savings. While most people have a false sense of security because they have insurance, what they may not realize is that an intensive need for medical care comes with deductibles and co-pays that can exhaust resources quickly.
A published, recent story from a successful person in the tech industry shares that he went bankrupt from medical bills. After a few weeks of pain, lightheadedness, and shortness of breath; he went to the doctor. He was told it was a viral condition in his heart causing congestive heart failure. Doctors also let him know there was nothing he could have done to prevent or cured his illness.
After several months of doctor visits and some time in the hospital, his insurance coverage had been exhausted and he owed $12,000. With his other expenses, 7 prescriptions, and food there was no money left. Therefore, he had to file bankruptcy. Still today, several years later, he’s just getting by, contending with perpetual medical bills, and the limited ability to scale his wealth because of his health.
The #1 cause of bankruptcy for decades now has been medical bankruptcy. The solutions that are continually under investigation are insurance coverage and the inexplicably high cost of medicine. While certainly insurance limits and the radically over-priced costs of healthcare are of major concern; for the wise, there is much more to consider.
Other than complaining and putting frowny or angry face emojis on social media posts about the healthcare system, there’s not much you can do about insurance and the insidious costs of medicine. What you can do is invest in your health.
Heart disease, for example, is the #1 killer. Yet, pallets of studies will reveal that it is a largely preventable disease and there is something you can do about it; contrary to what the doctors told the person from the story above.
In the story, the man has invested month after month of his life into all of the common forms of debt. His return for that investment was bankruptcy and an indentured servitude to his creditors. Instead, what if he had been investing in his health? Not only is it likely that he would have avoided the condition and subsequent medical bankruptcy, but he would have had the time, energy, and health to grow his aptitude towards greater wealth.
Based on medical costs, the Canadian government values a year of added life at $50,000. Using U.S. medical cost figures, the value of an extra year of life in America is $150,000. Those dollars are what it takes in the end to keep you alive another year. Why don’t you invest that now to keep you living and not just alive?
That seems like a whole lot to invest in your health and really doesn’t take that much. Just think of the returns. Where would you be as an individual and we be as a world if the number 1 place people put their dollars was into wellness now instead of sickness later? It may sometimes appear costly, but what is your life worth to you?
