While many people often assume that financial debt is caused by too much spending and extravagant living, though it is for some, studies show that the majority of people who are struggling in the deep waters of debt are because of their medical bills. Believe it or not, there are at least 2 million people in America whose debt will be caused because of their unpaid medical bills, more than any other cause of debt. Other common categories that lead to debt include unpaid credit cards and mortgages and yet medical bills surpass them both. Sadly, many of these individuals who hoped that their health insurance would act as the necessary buffer to protect them from debt, are also among the many who are unable to meet their payments.
NerdWallet Health conducted the studies by using the data given by the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Census, Common Wealth Fund, the federal court system, and others, looking at the details of the health care system and its efficiency. At this point in time there are already so many Americans who are struggling with making their payments for medical bills, and they estimate that within this calendar year, there will be another 1.7 million households that have to file for bankruptcy protection because of these bills. Aside from the large number of people that will actually file for bankruptcy because of their debt, there are another 56 million adults in the country, at least 20 percent of the current population, who will be struggling with health care bills this year as well.
Studies complied by NerdWallet have found that those living in the United States aren’t the only ones dealing with financial struggles in regards to their medical bills. An estimated 10 million people around the world who are covered year round with some type of health care assistance or insurance will still accrue bills that they are unable to pay for this year. Many insurance plans today still require that the patients owe an out of pocket deductible payment, and in many cases they are extremely high. In some cases, a deductible will be between $5,000 and $10,000 for a $50,000 annual income family, which then results in medical bills that they are unable to pay off because they didn’t have enough in the first place.
As a result of the extensive medical bills, over 11 million individuals this year will choose to add extra credit cards to their name in order to pay for the bills that they owe. Unfortunately, what they don’t realize is that unless they pay off the cards, the debt is going to continue to grow, a never ending cycle for those in need to medical care. Not only will the people take on new credit cards, often times ones that have extremely high interest rates for the balance that is left unpaid, but they are also wiping out their savings accounts as well in order to pay their bills. Because of this, many Americans will then struggle to make ends meet in order to provide for their families the daily necessities such as food, rent, utilities, etc.
One of the tragic effects of high medical bills is the fact that people who are extremely ill, are skipping their prescription medications because they are trying to save money, so they will go a couple days or a month without their meds. This means that the people are likely to become more ill because they are trying to prevent any more debt; a tragic and vicious cycle.