The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that more than 40 percent of adults have some medical debt, and fifty percent of adults are at risk of medical debt. Whether you are insured or uninsured, you are likely to be faced with medical debt, which could force you to forgo or delay medical care and jeopardize your health. [This Just Care post offers some ways to avoid medical debt.]
On top of the 41 percent of adults with medical debt–including unpaid bills from doctors, dentists, hospitals and other health care providers–another 16 percent had medical debt that they were able to pay off in the past five years. About 20 percent of people with medical debt today say that they will never be able to pay that debt back. Only 33 percent of people with medical debt expect to be able to pay it back within a year.
Because of the way the US health care system works, it is nearly impossible to budget for your health care costs. Copays tend not to be fixed and, even when they are, there is virtually no controlling the number and types of services providers deliver in most instances. Of course, each comes with its own copay.
Health care debt can take a huge toll on people’s savings. More than forty percent of adults with debt say that they have used all or most of their savings to pay off their debt. Others say that in order to pay off their debt, they had to stop paying other bills, skip going to college, or move out of their home.
Debt can take a toll on people’s credit rating, for example, keeping them from being able to buy a car or a home. As of July 2022, if you have fully paid off your medical debt, it will be removed from your credit report. Of course, that’s no help if you haven’t been able to fully pay off this debt.
Moreover, the poll finds that people with medical debt can struggle to get medical care. Fourteen percent of them can’t get a doctor to treat them. People postpone care or skip it altogether at twice the rate of people without medical debt.
People with low incomes and Black Americans are more likely to have to deal with collection agencies regarding their debt. They are also more likely to struggle to find a doctor to provide them needed care. And, they are also more often forced to switch residences to afford their housing costs and unburden themselves from medical debt.
That said, more than one in four people with annual incomes over $90,000 (26 percent) have medical debt. Another 19 percent of them had medical debt in the last five years.
Here’s more from Just Care:
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