47% of Americans could not find the money to pay for a $400 emergency

[crazy canuck]

Another problem is that 75% of Americans are impatient and inappropriately go to the ER for problems that are less expensively and more effectively handled as an outpatient with a primary care doctor or an urgent care center.

Go to the ER when you're about to die. Everything else is better treated elsewhere. ERs are the most expensive kind of medicine there is and is not necessary in the vast majority of cases.

What % of Americans have a primary care doctor?

What is the difference between an urgent care center and an ER?

[Fate]

Urgent cares are an Americanism for smaller stand alone buildings that you can get same day appointments for acute problems like minor trauma, pneumonia, etc. They are much less expensive than a hospital based ER. You also get seen and out the door much faster than overly congested ERs.

Indeed a lot of Americans don't have a PCP but that number is decreasing as we come closer to universal health coverage. For the poor or mentally ill their emergency room doctor becomes the PCP. It's insanely expensive and a wasteful use of medical dollars.

[crazy canuck]

Urgent cares are an Americanism for smaller stand alone buildings that you can get same day appointments for acute problems like minor trauma, pneumonia, etc. They are much less expensive than a hospital based ER.

A lot don't have a PCP but that number is decreasing as we come closer to universal health coverage. For the poor, a lot of the times their emergency room doctor becomes the PCP. It's insanely expensive and a wasteful use of medical dollars.

I suppose urgent care facilities are the same as our walk in clinics for people who don't have a primary care physician or who cannot get an appointment for an urgent matter.  Before those were developed we had the same problem with our ERs.   I suspect that people stopped going to ERs for things that could be dealt with at a walk in clinic because the walk ins were much more convenient (normally located in residential areas) and wait times were much less.  If someone went to an ER here for a non emergency condition they would likely be told the wait would be x hours but that the patient could certainly go to the nearest walk in where the wait would be significantly less.

[The Brain]

In America I would be in the top 53%.

[alfred russel]

In America I would be in the top 53%.

So would most Americans. 

[Martinus]

How many Americans could not find their arse with their both hands?

[The Brain]

In America I would be in the top 53%.

So would most Americans. 

Not katmai, he wouldn't fit.

[Martinus]

 

[jimmy olsen]

You can put a TV on a credit card. Your average neighbourhood plumber called out in the middle of the night would not be so accommodating.

Interestingly UK debt adviser Martin Lewis* suggests paying debt off before anything else, whereas the US one Dave Ramsey suggests saving $1,000 first.

* He says "Those with debts AND savings are seriously overspending but the solution is simple. Pay the debts off before you save and maybe even your mortgage. Forget the old 'must have an emergency savings fund' logic as getting rid of debts beats that too." I can't help thinking that that might lead to going further in debt when said emergency hits.

Well, in the UK if you have health emergency the state will cover you.

[dps]

Indeed a lot of Americans don't have a PCP but that number is decreasing

Is that true?  When I was a little kid, we didn't know anyone, no matter how poor, who didn't have a family doctor.  Now I know a lot of people who don't, some of them fairly well off.

Anyway, if 47% of Americans couldn't come up with $400 to cover an emergency, that means that 53% could.  I'd bet 53% is the highest that figure has ever been.

[LaCroix]

Its a bit of an odd article.  Its spends a great deal of time blaming Americans for not saving enough because of reliance on credit.  The article blames easy access to credit, lack of interest rate regulation, and people being generally stupid.  Income stagnation is mentioned but the article doesn't do a very good job making the link between the fact that people need to rely on credit because their incomes have not kept up with increases in expenses.

The drop in net worth, in just the last decade or so, is staggering.

(reasonably) increased incomes might see some increase in percentage of people saving, but would it increase by a substantial amount? people today have the ability to save, but they aren't. saving for anything requires (1) the ability to consistently make personal sacrifices and (2) knowledge of what you can sacrifice. in other words, actually cost cutting and effective ways you can cut costs. for the latter, some people just don't research, so they probably never find out the ways to maximize their saving ability. for the former, some people seem unable to delay gratification or generally commit to personal sacrifice (at least where budgeting is concerned)

[alfred russel]

I'd bet 53% is the highest that figure has ever been.

I sort of doubt it. Especially if talking in inflation adjusted terms.

The working and lower classes are not better off than they have been in the recent past, and the need for cash has decreased as credit has become easier to get, credit cards are accepted almost everywhere, and it has been easier to sell stuff such as through ebay or craigslist. Also, while the economic well being of the working classes is not at an all time high, the social safety net is relatively strong compared to the past.

[CountDeMoney]

I suppose urgent care facilities are the same as our walk in clinics for people who don't have a primary care physician or who cannot get an appointment for an urgent matter.  Before those were developed we had the same problem with our ERs.   I suspect that people stopped going to ERs for things that could be dealt with at a walk in clinic because the walk ins were much more convenient (normally located in residential areas) and wait times were much less.  If someone went to an ER here for a non emergency condition they would likely be told the wait would be x hours but that the patient could certainly go to the nearest walk in where the wait would be significantly less.

Urgent care clinics like Concentra and Patient First have only recently taken off within the last 20 years, and when it comes to densely populated urban--read: black--areas, they are still lagging behind in availability and are not always 24/7. 

Older people do not trust them like they do hospitals, and ERs are always open.

[dps]

I'd bet 53% is the highest that figure has ever been.

I sort of doubt it. Especially if talking in inflation adjusted terms.

The working and lower classes are not better off than they have been in the recent past, and the need for cash has decreased as credit has become easier to get, credit cards are accepted almost everywhere, and it has been easier to sell stuff such as through ebay or craigslist. Also, while the economic well being of the working classes is not at an all time high, the social safety net is relatively strong compared to the past.

It's not a cash versus credit issue.  If you have a credit card with $400 available credit on it, you have $400 available to cover an emergency.

And yeah, I was cheating a bit by not adjusting the $400 for inflation.

[11B4V]

In America I would be in the top 53%.

As long as you're not a fortyseven percenter.