Question the 'Experts'

It is not uncommon to have experts give statistics to support the claims they make. It is also not uncommon for reporters, politicians and others to quote those experts when trying to support their points of views, positions, etc...

One problem, the facts don't always support the experts statistics.

Twice in the past week President Obama has quoted the following statistic: "Every 30 seconds in the United States, someone files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem."

This statistic originally came from a study, conducted by researchers at Harvard’s medical and law schools, based on interviews with 1,771 individuals who filed for bankruptcy in 2001. Of these filers, 931 cited medical causes for their financial woes.

The statistic was then quoted in a 2005 article entitled Sick and Broke written by Elizabeth Warren and published in the Washington Post.

So, if every 30 seconds someone in the US files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem that would mean each year 1,051,200 people would file for bankruptcy for this reason. However, in the 12 months ending June 30, 2008 only 967,831 total people in the United States filed for bankruptcy, which was an increase of 29% over the year before. So according to Harvard, the Washington Post and the President more people are filing for bankruptcy each year in the aftermath of a serious health problem than the total number of people filing for bankruptcy in either of the past 2 years.

It is a good idea to check your facts and statistics, even if they are from the 'experts', before you quote them (especially if you are the President and they can be proved wrong with a calculator and a Google search).