(C) Common Dreams
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1 in 4 Americans with medical debt owe more than $10,000 [1]
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Date: 2023-08
The number one source of medical debt is emergency room visits, with 44% of respondents selecting this answer as a contributor to their unpaid medical bills.
According to Ali, this is largely due to differences in how emergency room care is delivered versus care in other types of settings.
“To rule out many dire medical diagnoses, a certain level of work up and testing must be performed in an emergency room setting,” she says. “Moreover, services done in an emergency room are often billed at a higher rate to insurance simply due to the high-tech equipment and time-sensitive nature of the tests. This rolls over into higher patient responsibility and more medical debt.”
To avoid the high cost of emergency room care, Noor recommends a different sequence of treatment, if possible.
“If possible, emergencies should first be dealt with via a tele-medicine appointment, then an in-office doctor visit, then an urgent care facility. Emergency room visits should be a last resort,” Ali says.
Other top sources of medical debt are hospitalization (36%), specialist doctors and care (30%), and diagnostic tests (30%).
In most cases, there isn’t much divergence between insured and uninsured respondents regarding the sources of their medical debt.
However, 25% of uninsured individuals say pregnancy contributed to their medical debt, compared to 16% of insured individuals. Similarly, 25% of uninsured respondents report incurring medical debt from vision and dental care, compared to 18% of those with insurance.
For 3 in 10 Americans with medical debt, bills came from COVID-19 treatment
While most sources of medical debt are familiar, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a more recent contributor. Thirty percent of respondents with medical debt incurred debt from COVID-19 treatment, including testing, inpatient care, or outpatient treatments for the virus.
Americans with health insurance are more likely than those without to say they incurred medical debt from COVID treatment, by a rate of 31% to 22%. However, research shows that individuals without health insurance were less likely to seek treatment in the first place if they contracted COVID-19.
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[1] Url:
https://www.affordablehealthinsurance.com/1-in-4-americans-with-medical-debt-owe-more-than-10000/
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