Affordable health care has become a consistent struggle for Americans, a new study reveals. More than 79 million Americans admit to having problems paying for their medical bills. Also, 61 per cent of those with medical debt are insured.
Digital Journal — If you live in the U.S. and have problems paying your medical bills, you’re not alone. In fact, 79 million other Americans are also enduring the same health-care difficulty. In 2007, 41 per cent of working-age Americans (72 million people) said they had medical bill problems or trouble paying off medical debts, up from 34 per cent in 2005. An additional 7 million Americans over 65 had the same issue, bringing the total to 79 million adults struggling to pay health-care bills, according to a new report from The Commonwealth Fund.
The press release stated: “Families are facing financial crises and are forced to make hard choices among life’s necessities, often sacrificing health care and health insurance along the way.”
The numbers are depressing: 39 per cent of people with mounting bills or debts said they had depleted their savings to pay off bills. Also, 45 per cent of adults reported problems getting medical care because of rising costs.
What other key findings from the survey should send alarm bells ringing in the ears of health-care professionals?
• Families with incomes under $20,000 report the highest uninsured rates: half went without insurance for a time during 2007.
• More than 70 percent of adults with gaps in their health insurance coverage reported not getting needed health care because of cost, up from just over half in 2001.
• About one-quarter of working-age adults with medical debt owe $4,000 or more. Around 12 per cent owe $8,000 or more in medical expenses.
The survey was based on telephone interviews done between June 6 and Oct. 24, 2007 with 3,501 adults 19 and older in the continental U.S.
The researchers concluded that in this presidential year, health care should be a paramount issue. They wrote:
With working families in crisis from a combination of faltering job and income security and a dramatic acceleration in the cost of basic life necessities, the time has never been more urgent for policymakers to forge ahead on solutions to the nations’ worsening health insurance problem.
