One in five families cannot pay for their medical bills – meaning 54 million Americans struggle to afford healthcare
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Even those who earn twice the poverty threshold have trouble paying
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Burden of costs affects quarter of those with Medicare or Medicaid
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The number of families struggling to pay for their healthcare has come down slightly, but one in five families still struggles to pay for medical bills, federal researchers found.
Figures showed that 20.3 per cent of people under 65 are in families that had trouble paying a medical bill during the first half of 2012.
The figure was down from 21.7 per cent in the first half of 2011, the National Center for Health Statistics found.
Vital signs: The prognosis for affordable healthcare is not looking good, with one in five families struggling
The numbers will be closely scrutinized as the U.S. moves towards healthcare reform. The 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, is designed to get more people covered by health insurance and, in theory, take away some of the financial burdens.
In the health statistics study Robin Cohen and colleagues looked at data from national surveys for their report.
They excluded people who are 65 or older because they have the right to coverage by Medicare, the federal health insurance plan for the elderly.
However, a quarter of those who had public health insurance such as Medicare or Medicaid struggled to pay for their medical care, the survey found.
‘In the first 6 months of 2012, among persons under age 65, 36.3 per cent of those who were uninsured, 14 per cent of those who had private coverage, and 25.6 per cent of those who had public coverage were in families having problems paying medical bills,’ the report said.
Poor health: Researchers found 14 per cent of the wealthier families still struggled to pay for their medical bills
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Fewer Families in U.S. Say Struggling to Pay Medical Bill
Fewer families are struggling to pay their medical bills, according to a report that suggests the cost of health-care may be starting to slow.
About 20 percent of people under 65 reported being in a family that was having problems paying for medical bills in the first six months of 2012, according to a survey by the National Center for Health Statistics. That’s a decrease from about 22 percent in the same period a year earlier, a drop of about 3.6 million people, the report found.
May 10 (Bloomberg) — U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the White House about the Affordable Care Act and benefits of the law. The White House has stepped up efforts to market the law as it approaches the Oct. 1 debut of health-insurance exchanges, at which millions of Americans will begin purchasing coverage. (Source: Bloomberg)
Health-care costs have eased because of increased use of cheaper generic drugs, more efficient care from hospitals and people putting off procedures during the economic downturn, said Peter Cunningham, a senior fellow at the Center for Studying Health System Change. Though the drop in people struggling to pay medical bills isn’t related to the health-care law, the trend may continue when insurance coverage is expanded starting in 2014, he said.
“Based on the earlier trends we’ve noted, this really isn’t a surprise and it coincides with moderating health-care costs,” Cunningham said. “People just started pulling back on what they are using and spending in terms of health care, which isn’t too dissimilar to what we’ve seen in other sectors of the economy.”
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CDC: One in five Americans can’t pay medical bills
When times are tough economically, medical care may suffer.
Recent surveys suggest Americans are skipping necessary medical care or not getting prescriptions filled because of cost concerns.
Hospital prices vary widely, report shows
A new government report finds about one in five Americans face problems paying their medical bills, but things may be improving.
Statisticians at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics reviewed government survey data, and found 20.3 percent of U.S. adults under 65 had troubles paying medical expenses during the first six months of 2012. That’s down though, from 21.7 percent during the first six months of the previous year. The new statistics, however, still reflect that more than 54 million Americans are facing troubles meeting medical costs.
Expenses may include medication, equipment, home care, or trips to doctors, dentists, hospitals and therapists.
Children 17 and younger were more likely to be in families who had bill problems than adult-only homes.
- Young adults protected from emergency room costs under Affordable Care Act: Study
- Drug costs may vary widely across U.S. after health care overhaul
- Hospital costs can vary more than $200,000 for same procedure, gov’t report reveals
The new statistical report paints a snapshot of U.S. health care ahead of the Jan. 2014 implementation of the provision in the Affordable Care Act that mandates insurance for all Americans.
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Surprise: Americans are having less trouble paying medical bills.
Here’s a rare bit of good news on health care costs: Americans are having an easier time paying their medical bills than they did just a year ago.
New data from the Center for Disease Control show there were 57.8 million Americans who had trouble paying their health care bills in the first six months of 2011. That number fell by 3.6 million, hitting 54.2 million in the same span of 2012.
Many of those gains accrued, perhaps surprisingly, to public health program enrollees, people signed up for programs like Medicaid.
Splice the data slightly differently, and you can see that families with children under 17 saw a statistically significant
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Related articles
- Fewer Families Struggling to Pay Medical Bills: CDC (news.health.com)
- Fewer Families Struggling to Pay Medical Bills: CDC (webmd.com)
- Medical Bills Survey Reveals One-Fifth of American Families Face Burdensome Health Care Costs (huffingtonpost.com)
- New Survey Shows that One Out of Five American Families Are Struggling with Health Care Costs (blackchristiannews.com)
- Our Healthcare Needs Euthanasia (audacityoven.com)
- Health insurance deadline looms without decisions (kansascity.com)
- 1 in 5 struggle to pay medical bills, but it’s getting better (vitals.nbcnews.com)
- CDC: One In Five Americans Can’t Pay Medical Bills (wibw.com)
- Long Struggle Ahead for Medicaid Expansion Advocates in Texas (newamericamedia.org)
- Big Percentage Of Families Struggle With Medical Bills, CDC Survey Reveals (huffingtonpost.com)
Cynthia Wilson James
Family Survival Protocol - Microcosm News 