Going Without Health Insurance Can Double Your Risk of Bankruptcy

Well, a new study from the American Bankruptcy Institute indicates that going without health insurance makes you twice as likely to file for bankruptcy. As MarketWatch reports.

People are twice as likely to file for bankruptcy if their health insurance has been interrupted, according to a new study published this week. In fact, all it takes is a coverage gap within two years for the chance of bankruptcy to jump twofold, according to the study published by the American Bankruptcy Institute.

MarketWatch notes that correlation is not causation, and that people without health insurance who filed for bankruptcy may have had additional financial pressures (such as low income or a lack of savings) that contributed to the filing decision. In other words, not everybody who goes without health insurance will have the same increased bankruptcy risk.

However, since the adoption of the Affordable Care Act, bankruptcy filings have dropped by 50 percent, according to Consumer Reports.

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- Doug Myrick