Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[missdaredevil]

More than half o all bankruptcies are linked to medical costs(the study is controversial in part because its *trigger* for medical expenses is just 1000)

What does the *trigger* mean?

Thanks

[asterix]

They are doing a study of bankruptcies.

the trigger is a set of conditions which cause the computer software to perform a certain action.
If the person going bankrupt has a medical debt of $1000 or greater, then medical expense is triggered as a cause of the bankruptcy.
If the person has medical debt of less than $ 1000 it is not.

The controversy is because the figure ($1000) is considered low, and this, according to critics, results in an artificially high number of bankruptcies in which "medical expenses" is a factor.