Which county characteristics predict medical debt?
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Author(s):
- Blavin, Fredric E., author Braga, Breno, (Economist) author Gangopadhyaya, Anuj, author
- Contributor(s):
- Urban Institute, issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, DC : Urban Institute, June 2022
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Health Care Reform -- economics Health Equity -- economics Health Expenditures -- legislation & jurisprudence Health Policy Medicare -- economics Social Mobility United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Medical debt is a critical challenge to Americans’ financial stability and well-being. People with medical debt are likely to forgo needed medical care, have difficulty meeting other basic needs, and face an increased risk of bankruptcy. Recent evidence shows that hospital systems are also becoming increasingly more aggressive in collecting payments by filing lawsuits and garnishing wages. Attention to the risk of being burdened with high medical bills, even among those with health insurance, is growing, as shown by the passing of the No Surprises Act in 2020. The act aims to provide federal protections for consumers against surprise out-of-network medical bills. Although medical debt has gained national focus, more attention to the geographic distribution and drivers of this debt is needed. This brief fills this gap by answering two research questions: (1) In which counties are people more likely to have medical debt in collections? (2) Which county-level socioeconomic and health conditions better predict medical debt? Using unique Urban Institute credit bureau data from August 2021 on more than 10 million consumers, we find that counties in Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas have the largest shares of adults unable to pay their medical bills on time. In fact, among the 100 US counties with the highest levels of medical debt in collections, 34 are in Texas, 20 are in Georgia, and 12 are in North Carolina. These three states are among the 12 that have not adopted the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In fact, 79 of the 100 counties with the highest levels of medical debt were in states that have not expanded Medicaid under the ACA.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-DC license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (19 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918486686906676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918486686906676