My family was nearly financially ruined by my medical costs and that was during the HMO era. My medical care (cancer treatment, 3 surgeries, multiple ER visits, 3 weeks in ICU, proton therapy at Loma Linda University Medical Center, etc.) was just under a half million dollars. I am very glad now that at the time I had an HMO as it kept our monthly out of pocket reasonable while I couldn't work full hours during treatment. Under my current plan, which costs in the neighborhood of 12X what my HMO did on a monthly basis, I would have to foot $5000 up front before any medical benefits kick in at all and then I would still pay a $40 copay + 20% of all bills to be paid on a monthly basis, that is, if they are covered, as many are not. And that doesn't count prescriptions, which for a cancer patient can be very costly (I had an experimental med that cost over $200 PER PILL). Even with my HMO it still stuck me with well in excess of $75k in debt (not all from medical but ancillary costs as well), on top of house payment, car payments, student loans, etc. I figured that with my current health plan I would be on the hook for well over double that out of pocket, and the monthly would be staggering. As it was we declared bankruptcy as a results and are just within the past few years, 12 years later, getting our credit back on its feet. Granted my case is an extreme one, but it does happen. I am lucky I had my degree and some experience to get me back on my feet. Others are not so lucky.
Count me as one who thinks something has to be done to fix our health care fiasco. And soon.
