What a crock!
I fly with people every trip who are sick and when questioned about why they didn't go sick, the answers usually are: I have tickets to a show in London, or I didn't want to be pay protected, or I didn't want to get stuck upline, or I want to go home.
As for people who can't afford to pay their mortgages, if you can't afford your repayments on your base pay, why commit to such a debt in the first place?