Most of us are unaware that since 2004 over 50% of the bankruptcies have been due to medical bills. That is one of the reasons the American Congress is looking at improving the Healthcare system.

But you cannot count on Congress to solve this potential problem for you. There are two causes for the surprising fact that medical bills result in so many bankruptcies: 

• Medical collection agencies resist using repayment plans in favor of going to small claims courts to get favorable verdicts. Do you want to spend your entire afternoon in a small claims court where you don't know the procedures? So many people just cave in and agree to pay bills they can't afford to pay and have the court rule against them.
• Fortunately the second cause for the tide of medical bankruptcies is more in our control. In the last 40 years or so, most of us have ignored the details of our health insurance programs and taken them for granted as a fringe benefit. Due to our ignorance, we don't even file claims on what we have coming to us.

Making Sense Of Our Current Insurance Program

Before proceeding, we need to understand the current American Health Insurance options.

 The alphabetical abbreviations can be puzzling.
 So let's start with a broad overview first:

According to the Census bureau about 84% of Americans have health insurance; some 60% obtain it from an employer, while about 9% purchase it directly. Each of these programs covers different benefits; So each individual needs to make sure that he/she has the right benefits.

Different Health Care Delivery Plans

The family health insurance delivery system in the U.S. has evolved over the last 50 years to include the following options:

All of the above can seem confusing; but it practically gets manageable because most patients have a preferred doctor. That choice automatically makes the choice of which health plan the patient will belong to.

It must be noted that the benefits provided by each of these health plans may be different. Once again, the patient has the responsibility for picking the benefits, plan and doctor that best meets individual needs.  We cover how to find the best health solution in the next article.