It finds that health plan cost-sharing is a primary contributor to medical debt. Even relatively modest cost sharing can prove unaffordable because expenses often are unexpected and most Americans have less than $3,000 on hand to cover such costs.
For many, unaffordable cost-sharing may be compounded by other factors:
- Out-of-network expenses may also arise, often inadvertently for people who are hospitalized when hospital-based providers aren’t in the plan network
- Health care providers tend to promptly refer patients who can’t pay to collections
- Patients may use credit cards to pay unaffordable medical bills, which increases debt
- Illness often triggers income loss, further aggravating affordability problems
- People facing health issues may have trouble tracking medical expenses and resolving billing problems on their own.
- Medical debt is also linked to housing instability, reduced retirement savings, damaged credit, bankruptcy and barriers to accessing care.