Think the Insured Can Afford Their Medical Bills? Not So, New Survey Finds

January 05 01:00 2016 by ushadmin

Despite the recent federal law requiring that most Americans buy health insurance or pay a fine, this mandated insurance coverage still fails to protect a significant percentage of Americans. A new Kaiser Family Foundation/New York Times survey challenges a narrative put forth by many policymakers — the notion that patients do not have enough “skin in the game.” To the average American, this is nonsense.

Millions of Americans not only have skin in the game, but also muscles, tendons and bones. The survey finds that one in five working-aged Americans with health insurance coverage experienced problems paying medical bills that caused serious financial problems. Not surprisingly, the uninsured are even harder hit by the problem of unaffordable healthcare costs with more than half (53%) experiencing problems paying medical bills.

Some might be surprised to learn that health insurance fails to protect people. Unfortunately, ever-increasing healthcare costs have shifted more first-dollar coverage onto patients in the form of high deductibles, substantial co-payments and even co-insurance (where the patient pays a percentage of the bill rather than just a fixed co-payment amount). The survey found that 75% of those with insurance who experienced medical bill problems said they could not afford these costs. Americans are being squeezed by out-of-pocket medical expenses with more now underinsured…