Good news, Americans! Fewer of you are having trouble footing medical bills than in the past.
Nearly 9 million fewer Americans below the age of 65 said that they struggled to pay for medical expenses for themselves or somebody in their household during the first half of 2015 than in 2011, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The total who reported such difficulties dropped from 56.5 million, or 21.3 percent of the non-elderly population, to 47.7 million, or 16.5 percent. A decrease has been observed in each of the last four years. Between 2014 and 2015, the total number decreased by 3.9 million or 1.4 percent.
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Households with children are slightly more likely to report issues with medical bills (18.1 percent) than those without (15.9 percent).
The uninsured are far more likely to report challenges in paying for medical care. Just under 30 percent of those without insurance report such problems, compared to nearly 23 percent of those on public health programs, such as Medicaid and the Veterans Administration, and 12.7 percent of those who have private insurance.
If it seems surprising that the uninsured do not report dramatically higher rates of struggles with medical bills, keep in mind that a good slice of that population includes young, typically healthy people who have forgone insurance because they perceive no need.
If the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has improved affordability, its effect is most pronounced among those who are uninsured or are covered by public programs. The number of uninsured people reporting troubles with medical bills dropped by 5.9 percentage points from 2011 to 2014. For those in public programs, the drop was nearly identical –– 6 percentage points. The drop among those with private coverage was not nearly as dramatic –– only 2.2 percentage points.
The trend based on income category appears at first glance to mirror the trend based on insurance status, except that the poorest Americans are slightly less likely to report issues than those classified as near-poor. Among the poor, the percentage reporting problems declined from 31.2 percent to 24.5 percent. Among the near-poor, it dropped from 34.6 percent to 27.1 percent. Among those who are not poor, the rate declined from 15.2 percent to 12.2 percent.
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