More Than Two in Five People Have Medical Debt, Medical Bill Problems, Study Says
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January 24, 2006

[Detailed from a March 2004 study by the Commonwealth Fund, an estimated 27.7 million working adults had medical debt in 2003 and 62% of those individuals had health insurance. The highest percentage were among those with higher deductible health insurance plans. These numbers could be a telling indicator of why the more recent trends in Health Savings Accounts (HSA) have been so dramaticly strong.]
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Coverage & Access | More Than Two in Five People Have Medical Debt, Medical Bill Problems, Study Says - Kaisernetwork.org:


KaiserNetwork | Daily Health Policy Report

[Aug 11, 2005]

More than two of every five U.S. adults—about 77 million individuals—had problems with paying of medical bills, had accrued medical debt or both in 2003, according to a study released on Wednesday by the Commonwealth Fund, Healthday News/Detroit Free Press reports (Pallarito, Healthday News/Detroit Free Press, 8/11). For the study, Michelle Doty, a senior analyst atthe Commonwealth Fund, and colleagues conducted a more detailed analysis of data from a March 2004 study that surveyed 4,052 adults ages 19 and older between September 2003 and January 2004. According to the new study, an estimated 27.7 million working adults had medical debt in 2003 and 62% of those individuals had health insurance. The study also found:

* 49% of respondents who had health insurance with annual deductibles of $500 or more reported problems with the payment of medical bills, compared with 32% of those with lower annual deductibles (Higgins, Washington Times, 8/11);

* 63% of respondents who reported problems with the payment of medical bills said that they did not seek necessary treatment because of cost concerns;

* 48% of respondents who had health insurance but not prescription drug coverage reported problems with the payment of medical bills, compared with 33% of those who had prescription drug...... Read More>>>