Hello, I’m JJ Childers here to once again to be your Monday Morning Mentor. Last week we discussed catastrophic illnesses and injuries and I closed by asking you if this was something you should plan for. This week, I’ll be giving you some information which will hopefully make you realize that you should indeed plan for not only catastrophic illnesses and injuries, but for ordinary medical expenses as well.
Consider these startling statistics about the cost of healthcare in the United States: According to some reports, more than 16% of Americans are without any kind of healthcare coverage. In 2002, 23% percent of U.S. families (18 million households) had high out-of-pocket health-care costs relative to their income. "High" was defined as 10 percent or more of household income for all families and 5 percent or more of income for low-income families. In the next decade, healthcare will account for one out of every five dollars spent in the U.S.
With these figures in mind, how well off do you think you would be, financially, if you were hit with a catastrophic illness or injury. If you didn’t have a plan in place, the financial impact to you and your family would be devastating. In the next few weeks, we’ll be talking about some ways that you can prepare for catastrophic illnesses and injuries and how you can pay for healthcare costs in general.
