CNN
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Health care debt is a huge burden on the middle class.
According to one report, nearly a quarter of middle-class Americans, or 17 million people, will have unpaid health care bills in 2020, a higher proportion than those with higher or lower income levels. It is said that new report From the center-left think tank Third Way.
That compares with 22% of low-income Americans and just under 13% of high-income Americans, according to the report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Third Way defines the middle class as a family of three with an annual income of $50,000 to $100,000, calling it “the heart of the middle class.”
Although there is a middle class have higher rates of good health insurance than low-income Americans, Financial pressure is exacerbated by several factors. Middle-class people are less likely to avoid treatment because of cost, but they are also less likely to qualify for financial assistance and debt forgiveness in some hospitals than people with lower incomes.
In addition, the middle class is less likely than the high-income group to have sufficient disposable funds to cover high deductibles and out-of-pocket costs.
“Health care debt hits families hard in many ways,” said David Kendall, senior fellow in health and financial policy at The Third Way. “It makes it difficult to get health care. It overwhelms their budgets. It can hinder them from obtaining mortgages and building intergenerational wealth, especially for black families.”
Black and Hispanic middle-class Americans are more likely than white and Asian Americans to have unpaid medical bills, a Third Way study found. Black, Hispanic, and Asian middle-class Americans also have higher rates of medical debt than lower-income Americans.
Nearly 38% of blacks and just over 25% of middle-class Hispanic people each have medical debt. This compares with 20.4% among whites and 16.6% among middle-class Asians.
Middle-class college graduates do have some medical debt, but the percentage is much lower than those who never attended or graduated from college. About 16.5% of those with at least a bachelor’s degree have unpaid medical bills, while more than a quarter of those with less education have medical debt.
Older people are more likely to have higher medical costs, but lower medical debt rates thanks to Medicare. He’s only 14.4% of people over the age of 65 who are behind on medical bills, compared to more than a quarter of the young in the United States.
High medical costs have long been one of the biggest financial headaches for Americans.
More attention is now being paid to the issue of medical debt. Last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Treasury launched investigations into medical credit cards and other specialty financial products that could impose high costs and debt burdens on patients.
Consumer credit reports list about $88 billion in health care costs, but total health care debt is likely to be higher, according to a report released last year by the agency.
Three of the country’s largest credit bureaus have taken steps to mitigate the impact of medical debt. Medical debt can make it difficult for consumers to obtain credit, secure employment or housing. Non-payment of fees may also lead to avoidance of future medical care.
Equifax, Experian and TransUnion announced last year that they would not include recovered medical debt on their consumer credit reports after it was paid off. This will erase billions of dollars of debt on consumer record, almost 70%.
In addition, the previous grace period was 6 months, but the outstanding health care debt will not appear on your credit report for the first year. This gives people more time to work with their health insurance companies and providers to deal with their bills.
And after the first half of this year, medical recovery debt under $500 will not appear on credit reports, the credit reporting agency said.