The important thing to consider in planning for independent living is to make sure that your financial house is in order. This is, of course, easier said than done. But a degree of planning can help you to avoid unpleasant surprises.

One problem that has been with Americans for decades is the problem of huge medical debt overwhelming our ability to repay. With Americans losing jobs (and health insurance coverage) from the bad economy, the ability to meet significant medical debt can be daunting.

It should come as no surprise, then, that many people are forced to consider bankruptcy as a means of getting out from under the debt. Consider this item from The New York Times’s Money & Policy section….

After the Hospital, It’s Bankruptcy Court for Many – NYTimes.com

Last summer, Harvard researchers published a headline-grabbing paper that concluded that illness or medical bills contributed to 62 percent of bankruptcies in 2007, up from about half in 2001. More than three-fourths of those with medical debt had health insurance.

But the researchers’ methodology has been criticized as defining medical bankruptcy too broadly and for the ideological leanings of its authors, some of whom are outspoken advocates for nationalized health care.

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