A recent study called ‘Troubles in America: A Study of Negative Life Events across Time and Sub-Groups’ reports that a number types of misery are on the rise since 1991 when the last misery index was calculated. The University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center interviewed 1340 Americans in 2004 and found that 92% report at least one major problem - up from 88% in 1991.

The biggest gainer was lack of health insurance with was at 17.9%, up from 11.8%. Other increases included

- unemployed for more than one month (~3% increase)
- pressure by bill collectors (~3% increase)
- needed a hospital visit (~4% increase)

Those that decreased included

- being sued in a civil case (~2% decrease)
- no car for more than one month (~4% decrease)

The estimates are based on the bar graph in the article which didn’t provide exact percentages.

According to Tom W. Smith, director of the survey,

Without health insurance, he explains, getting sick can lead to other discouraging consequences, including loss of a job.

I would think the opposite would also be true - loss of a job may mean loss of health insurance and, of course, lots of bills if you get sick.

Just a quick trip to the emergency room can cost thousands of dollars. A few years ago, for instance, I woke up in the middle of the night with the most intense pain in my side. Though I didn’t have insurance at the time, I opted to check into the emergency room and learned that I had a kidney stone - one of the least fun things you can ever experience. Though I was only in the emergency room for about 4 hours, my bill from the tests, the bed, the drugs, etc was over $3000 - ouch! And that didn’t even include the doctor’s fees which I received a separate bill for.

After that, I looked into small business health insurance and found a reasonable HMO plan from Aetna through eHealthInsurance.com.

Source: Scientific American Mind, May 2006 (subscription required)