Drew Altman, Kaiser Family Foundation
May 8, 2019
Data: Kaiser Family Foundation;
Chart: Axios Visuals
People with major medical illnesses are having serious problems
paying for the health care they need — a crisis that is flying under the radar
while attention is focused on hot policy issues like the Affordable Care Act
and "Medicare for All."
The big picture: A survey by the
Kaiser Family Foundation and the Los Angeles Times shows that a strikingly
large share of people with serious medical conditions are struggling to pay
their medical bills, often wreaking havoc with their family budgets and causing
them to cut back on care.
By the numbers: Take
people with employer coverage who have a chronic condition such as
hypertension, asthma, a serious mental health condition, diabetes, heart
disease or cancer. It’s not a small group; just over half of those with
employer coverage say someone in their family is currently receiving treatment
for one of these or another chronic condition.
- 6 out of 10 people in this group report
that they or a family member skipped or postponed medical care or
prescription drugs they needed because of costs, or tried a home remedy
instead.
- High deductibles can make things
worse: Among those with chronic
conditions whose deductibles are at least $3,000 for an individual or
$5,000 for a family, three-quarters report skipping or postponing some
type of care.
- About half — 49%
— say they or a family member had problems paying medical bills or
difficulty affording their premiums, deductibles or co-pays in the last
year.
There are ripple effects on family budgets, too. A substantial share of people reported taking measures
such as increasing credit card debt (28%), using up most of their savings
(26%), taking an extra job (19%), and borrowing money from others (14%) to pay
for health care or insurance costs.
And this was over the last year. We ask the question that way
because people can more easily remember more recent experiences. It’s not hard
to imagine that the share of people with chronic conditions who experience
these problems over the course of a longer time period is much higher.
People who do not have serious illnesses also struggle with
affordability challenges, but fewer of them do (29%). Their worries that they
will get sick and not be able to pay their bills fuels health care as a
political issue.
The bottom line: It may
not be surprising that people who are sick have more problems; they use more
care. But it is the opposite of how a compassionate and functional insurance
system should work.
No comments:
Post a Comment