Question:
Number of Americans bankrupted by the cost of treatment not covered by inadequate private insurance, either before or after the fact, or depending on what private insurance companies define as a 'pre-existing condition'?

In looking for an answer to your question of how many have been bankrupt by inadequate private insurance etc..., I came across a lot of information that brought me to the conclusion that the real answer may be very few. If the economy doesn’t improve and illness strikes, four individuals I personally know may end up being a medical bankruptcy statistic, even though it will have nothing directly to do to with their medical bills. The medical bills will just be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

These individuals are reckless or careless with their money. They do very little, if anything, to protect themselves from a medical incidence.It is the neighborhoods they choose to live in. The cars and toys they must own.Their risky business deals. Their gambling or other indulgence.The vacations, the dining out, the pampering they feel they need.Quite frankly it is their inability to say no, or prioritize and live within their means.Not to mention their lack of savings for an emergency or the lack of preparedness to have some disability insurance.This lifestyle they choose is what will lead them to bankruptcy, not their medical bills…

Here is an article from the “professionals" that say pretty much the same thing.

High Health Costs Forcing Americans To Go Bankrupt, Cut Back On Care

Posted by Staff on July 28, 2009

By Annie Berman – Talk Radio News Service

The current health care system is not bankrupting America; Rather, outrageously high medical bills, mounds of credit card debt and expensive mortgages are what cause Americans to file for bankruptcy, experts said Tuesday at a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.

Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of one-time Democratic Presidential hopeful John Edwards, shared statistics with the committee regarding vast medical costs forcing Americans into declaring bankruptcy. Edwards explained that such costs force households into cutting back on what they spend on health care.

“According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey, concerns about affording needed medical care led insured individuals to cut back on care due to cost. Responses included postponing care (34%), skipping a recommended medical visit or treatment (30%), not filling prescriptions (27%), and skipping doses or cutting pills (21%),” said Edwards.

University of Michigan Law Professor and bankruptcy expert John A. E. Pottow offered his definition of medical bankruptcy to the committee.

“It could mean someone whose medical debts exceed…a certain percentage of their income. Or it could mean someone who lost income or a job, or even had to mortgage his or her home, due to medical bills,” said Pottow.

Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a physician and Harvard University medical professor, argued that only a single-payer system can make health care coverage available and affordable to all Americans, and would “save hundreds of billions we now waste on insurance overhead and bureaucracy”. Woolhandler also claimed that private insurance is fundamentally defective and the tremendous amount of over-treatment by doctors causes medical bills to go way up.

However, the committee’s ranking Republican member, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), took issue with Woolhandler’s sentiments.

“Here’s my big concern, and that is that somehow the answer to medical bankruptcy is nationalized healthcare…If a [nationalized healthcare system] saves hundreds of billions of dollars, it would be a first in history for government to do something of this complexity and actually save money,” said Franks.

“If indeed private insurance is fundamentally defective…with all the crises that people face with healthcare, if you put it in government hands, even to a partial extent, you will diminish the dignity of the patient and the pressure will be on giving less healthcare…I am convinced that healthcare will become more expensive…Instead of having financial bankruptcy, we will have health bankruptcy,” said Franks.