re: Medical Debt Should Not Ever Be Used to Harm Credit Worthiness

"Not all healthcare is the same."

A long time ago when I was in residency, I went to a medical meeting where the speaker was talking about Levamasol, a drug that was being targeted to treat colon cancer. Ironically, it is also a worm treatment given to sheep to treat them for flukes I believe. The speaker gave some great information on the drug and its effectiveness thru the trials they had sponsored. When question time came, an old guy in the back stood up and said "Sir, I am a farmer and doctor from (some midwestern state). I use this drug to treat my sheep and and I have also used it during the trial on some of my patients. The question I have is about the price. The drug when I buy it at the Co-op is $1.50 a pill to treat my sheep, however the same dose to treat my patient is over $300 per pill, why is that...."
After a few moments, the speaker looked up and said "Sir, simply because we have never been sued by a sheep."
One reason we have such high costs for medications and for treatments is directly related to the unfair tort laws that allow people to sue for side effects and reactions. The companies build this in to the initial model for release because they anticipate a crazy number of suits.

No one paid back a dime of my school loans except for me. And medical school was expensive. I remember my first day at registration I was asked to write a check for more than I had made working during the previous two years. I didn't have it, but they said write it anyways and we will hold it until the loan paperwork is finalizsed. That was an eye-opener.