Debbie Stabenow Quotes

Half of all personal bankruptcies in the United States are due to high medical expenses. Millions of Americans are living one illness away from financial disaster.

Medical debts are the number-one cause of bankruptcy in America.

No one should have to choose between medicine and other necessities. No one should have to use the emergency room every time a child gets sick. And no one should have to live in constant fear that a medical problem will become a financial crisis.

Most women file for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious medical problem, a job loss, or a family break up. It is hard to protect against those.

The No. 1 cause of bankruptcies is medical bills.

Political grandstanding might make for great soundbites for the evening news, but it will do nothing to help the people that go to work every day knowing that they're one health emergency away from bankruptcy. It will do nothing to help the hospitals struggling to keep their doors open under the crushing cost of uncompensated care.

We can all agree that no American should lose their life savings or their home because of illness or injury and that the rising cost of health care severely burdens individuals, families and businesses.

Almost half of the bankruptcies in the United States are connected to an illness in the family, whether people had health insurance or not. Middle-class Americans, who had the misfortune of either experiencing a medical emergency themselves or watching a family member suffer, were then forced to face the daunting task of pulling themselves out of debt. Bankruptcy law has allowed them to start over. It has given hope

For many Americans, including many who are employed, going to the doctor when they fall ill or become injured may not be an option because of the absence of health insurance.

You got to pick one - pay your medical bills or pay the mortgage. Most people can't do both, and I'm no different.

Too many Americans who are uninsured or under-insured do not receive regular checkups because they can't afford coverage or their insurance doesn't cover enough of the costs. The lack of preventive care results in countless emergency room visits and health care disasters for families.

In 2001, America 's hospitals provided nearly $21 billion in uncompensated health care services.

There is simply no human justification for any American to suffer illness or neglect preventive care because of this fear of hospital bills and of the exorbitant prices of medicine.

Too many of our senior citizens are being forced to choose between neglecting their illnesses or being impoverished by them.

No Americans wants to see somebody lose their house because of health bills. Their boat? Maybe. Maybe the boat. But not the house.

No one should go into debt if a family member gets sick or injured.

Look, if you have somebody who doesn't have health insurance, who doesn't have a doctor or dentist, and in order to deal with their cold or flu or dental problem, they go to an emergency room - in general, that visit will cost ten times more than walking into a community health center.

In the future, it's going to become more and more impossible for the economy to support how expensive medical care is and the number of sick people we have. Why don't we just get our population healthier so we don't need medical care?

If we don't change, millions of American families are just one medical emergency, or one layoff, away from financial disaster and bankruptcy.

The problem with not saving is it can often mean you're - a crisis away from, as we've seen in some cases, living in your car or losing your home or - having your lights shut off.

Without true medical liability reform, our doctors will continue to leave, and young doctors coming out of medical school $100,000 to $200,000 in debt will not be able to afford such onerous costs.

Thousands die each year because they are uninsured or under-insured.

I know that some things are beyond our control, some illnesses are beyond our control, we get sick, we don't know why. But let's pledge to do whatever we can to avoid those high medical bills.

If you're not paying for it through the health plan, you pay for it in the emergency room.