According to David U. Himmelstein, M.D., Deborah Thorne, Ph.D., Elizabeth Warren, J.D., and Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., M.P.H. of Physicians for a National Health Program:

Illness and medical bills were linked to at least 62.1 percent of all personal bankruptcies in 2007. Based on the current bankruptcy filing rate, medical bankruptcies will total 866,000 and involve 2.346 million Americans this year — about one person every 15 seconds.

Using identical definitions in both years, the proportion of bankruptcies attributable to medical problems rose by 49.6 percent between 2001 and 2007.

Most medically bankrupt families were middle class before they suffered financial setbacks. Some 60.3 percent of them had attended college and 66.4 percent had owned a home; 20 percent of families included a military veteran or active-duty soldier.

We can do better than this — we must do better than this. We can urge our senators to take the long view and vote to support comprehensive health care reform. Let’s stop this stampede to the bottom.

Rep. Terry Hayes, Buckfield