And they call it insurance? 

A new study from the folks at Physicians for a National Health Plan showed that unpaid and unmanageable personal health care bills contributed to 57 percent of all personal bankruptcies in early 2007, up from 46 percent in 2001. The majority of medical debtors were educated and middle class. The most stunning fact: Three-quarters had health insurance!

This raises an important question. President Obama yesterday sent a letter to Capitol Hill confirming he will go along with a plan that mandates everyone buy insurance as long as it allows for waivers for poor people. But what minimum standards will insurance products have to meet? Will there be national requirements (for the first time) that all plans cover catastrophic bills? Or will the insurance industry be allowed to continue selling products with high co-pays and deductibles, and annual and/or lifetime caps, both of which can send people to bankruptcy court when they suffer a major illness?