Savings rates are through the roof right now, I would worry more about a deflation spiral.
There's a lot of people who were already barely hanging on, and now covid and demonstrations have pulled the rug out from under them.
We're only 2 months in. Things will get worse before they get better.
1. https://www.valuepenguin.com/banking/average-checking-accoun...
Does that count money market and savings accounts? And given interest rates are so low I wonder if people invest in more riskier stuff.
Most Americans have health insurance of some form.
1. Insurance only pays some fraction of what can be very high bills, and providers notoriously send bill-like invoices trying to get you to pay for things which were paid in full by your insurance company. Many people will be pressured to pay things and uncomfortable standing up to a huge provider’s legal department.
2. Many employers have favored plans which increase deductibles, and the people with the worst plans are also paid the least and so will struggle to have enough cash in reserve for those larger payments.
3. Hospitals commonly have unrelated specialists show up for a couple minutes to add billable consultation hours. If one of those doctors isn’t covered by your plan, you get the bill even if the hospital itself is in network or you were, say, unconscious at the time or unaware that you could turn down their “help”.
4. Insurance is tied to employment: if you have a medical emergency which affects your ability to work, guess what happens to your coverage?
PSAVERT went from a very steady baseline in the ~6-7% range for the last five years to 33% in eight weeks between February and April.