The Hill by Peter Sullivan
Even many people with health insurance have problems paying medical bills, according to a new survey.
The survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation and The New York Times finds that 20 percent of people with health insurance say they or someone in their household had problems paying medical bills in the last year.
That figure is significantly less than the 53 percent of uninsured people who had problems paying medical bills, but it shows that even people with insurance are not completely out of the woods.
“As the nation moves beyond the debate over the Affordable Care Act, issues of health care costs and affordability like those highlighted by this survey are likely to play a prominent role in health policy discussions,” the Kaiser study authors write.
One of the reasons is high deductibles[…]
Continue Reading — Poll: Many insured people have trouble paying medical bills
Below is a screenshot of Appendix 1 to the survey listing by demographic, age, ethnicity, etc. those who say who say they or someone in their household had problems paying medical bills in the past 12 months.
As with all social engineering policies we enter the land of unintended consequences (or maybe not so unintended).
Take note that the groups most negatively affected and having problems paying medical bills are those Progressives claimed that the Affordable Care Act would benefit.
View Appendix 1 here.
Below are a few of the highlighted findings of the New Kaiser/New York Times Survey conducted between Aug. 28 through Sept. 28, 2015:
People with health insurance who have problems with medical bills also report skipping or putting off other health care in the past year because of the cost, such as postponing dental care (62%), skipping doctor-recommended tests or treatments (43%), or not filling a prescription (41%). In general, people with medical bill problems are two to three times as likely to report each of these problems as those without problems paying medical bills.
The Kaiser/Times survey provides an in-depth, quantitative look at the extent and causes of Americans’ medical-debt issues and their impact on people’s lives, families, finances and access to health care. The New York Times is reporting on the findings this week, and the Foundation is issuing a report detailing the survey’s results and implications.
Other findings include:
- Among the insured with problem medical bills, a quarter (26%) say they received unexpected claim denials; and about a third (32%) say they received care from an out-of-network provider that their insurance wouldn’t cover. The out-of-network charges were a surprise for a large majority: 69 percent were unaware that the provider was not in their plan’s network when they received the care.
- Among those with private insurance, those in higher deductible plans are more likely to report medical bill problems than those in plans with lower deductibles (26% versus 15%).
- Most (61%) of those with medical bill problems say they’ve had difficulty paying other bills as a result of their medical debt, and more than a third (35%) say they were unable to pay for basic necessities like food, heat, or housing. Almost six in ten of those with problems paying medical bills (58%) say they’ve been contacted by a collection agency in the past year. Those who faced medical bill problems with and without insurance are about equally likely to report each of these situations.
- Among those with medical bill problems, 31 percent say the total reached at least $5,000, including 13 percent who say the total reached at least $10,000. Significant shares also report having problems with smaller totals, including one in four (24%) who say their bills totaled less than $1,000….
Continue Reading -New Kaiser/New York Times Survey Finds One in Five Working-Age Americans With Health Insurance Report Problems Paying Medical Bills
High deductibles. High medical bills. Can’t say we did not see that one coming. As it turns out, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) aka the Affordable Care Act (ACA) aka Obamacare, all references to which is excluded from the Kaiser/NYTimes survey including the legislation’s direct connection to its namesake, Barack Obama (no doubt intentionally) is unaffordable.
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A new analysis of Obamacare by the Kaiser Family Foundation concludes there is still room for growth in the program but probably not nearly as much as once believed.
