Over 2.2 million Californians have medical debt
Insured and in debt: Even with coverage Californians struggle to pay medical bills
UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
August 31, 2009
More than 2.2 million California adults report having medical debt.
1.4 million have medical debt despite having insurance.
Individuals with medical debt are twice as likely as those without debt to delay or forgo needed health care.
“That even insured people are forced to take on medical debt to pay for their health care is another glaring inadequacy in our current system of health insurance,” said E. Richard Brown, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and lead author of the report, “The State of Health Insurance in California.”
http://www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu/news_08312009.html
Full report (102 pages):
http://www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu/pubs/files/SHIC_RT_82009.pdf
Comment:
By Don McCanne, MD
Most individuals who are following health care reform are already aware of the fact that medical debt often contributes to personal bankruptcy, even for those who had been insured. This report adds to that data by demonstrating that medical debt is much more common than is reflected in the bankruptcy data, and is serious enough to have adverse consequences since it often results in individuals delaying or forgoing needed health care.
Two-thirds of Californians with medical debt were insured. The current proposal before Congress calls for a mandate to purchase private plans with very high premiums, with inadequate subsidies, and with an inadequate actuarial value which results in excessive out-of-pocket expenses. This flawed proposal would be a guarantee that medical debt and its adverse consequences shall remain a problem for far too many of us.
Members of Congress may feel that they have too much time and effort already invested in the current proposal to change course now. But that personal investment for a few hundred legislators is absolutely nothing compared to the impact that the legislation will have on the health care of over 307,000,000 of us. They need to start over - now - and do it right.