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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Today, we are releasing a series of publications that document past-due medical debt across the country. Although some of the findings seem grim, our research highlights steps to reduce Americans’ chances of having past-due medical bills and highlights states where people have a lower risk of past-due medical debt.
Evidence shows that adults with greater financial knowledge are less likely to have past-due medical debt. The same holds true for adults with health insurance. Although past-due medical debt causes distress for many Americans, our research suggests that it is not insurmountable.
Based on survey data from the National Financial Capability Study, we found the following about medical debt and its effect on Americans:
- In 2012, nearly 30 percent of nonelderly adults said they had an outstanding, past-due medical bill. Since then, the economy has improved and health insurance coverage has increased, yet past-due medical debt still affects millions of people’s ability to build credit, to get the health care they need, and afford basic needs.
- Increasing financial knowledge is associated with lower past-due medical debt, but formal financial education—at least as we measure it—is not linked to reduced risk of having past-due medical debt.
- Millennials and generation Xers are more likely to have past-due medical debt than baby boomers.
- Nearly a quarter of nonelderly adults in the United States reported having past-due medical debt in 2015. Moreover, the likelihood that a person has past-due medical debt varies substantially by state. Medical debt is most prevalent in southern states.