Medical debt in New York State and its unequal burden across communities
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Urban Institute research report
- Author(s):
- Karpman, Michael, author Blavin, Fredric E., author Gonzalez, Dulce, author Andre, Jennifer, author Braga, Breno, (Economist) author
- Contributor(s):
- Health Policy Center (Urban Institute), issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, DC : Urban Institute, July 2023
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Financial Stress -- economics Health Equity -- economics Health Inequities Health Policy New York
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Patients who are unable to pay their medical bills often incur medical debt that health care providers seek to collect. The burden of medical debt can intensify a person’s financial challenges; affect their access to health care, credit, employment, housing, and food; and worsen their health. In New York State, approximately 6 percent of consumers had medical debt in collections on their credit reports in February 2022. However, the relatively low statewide average conceals variation across regions and communities, including disparities by race and ethnicity, income, and other demographic characteristics. This report examines the geographic distribution of medical debt in collections in New York State, providing a detailed picture of its unequal impacts on local communities and residents. Our analysis draws on February 2022 data from a representative random sample of deidentified credit records for more than 600,000 consumers ages 18 and older in New York State from one of the national credit reporting agencies. We estimate the share of consumers with medical debt on their credit reports and the amounts owed. Because the credit bureau data does not contain demographic information for consumers except for their ages, we use information on the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of consumers’ communities-defined based on zip codes of residence-as a proxy for examining the disproportionate burden of medical debt on marginalized groups. We assess how the prevalence and amounts of medical debt differ based on these community characteristics, both statewide and in each of the state’s 10 economic regions and their constituent counties. We also examine variation in the prevalence of medical debt at the community level.
- 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 (vii, 112 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918697486106676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918697486106676