High earners report high anxiety over job loss, medical expenses
Concerns are high across the board, but income is no buffer against fear.
To protect their own financial strength, hospitals and health care providers need to address patients’ fears regarding the cost of care in order to get them to “return to normal care settings,” according to a report from AccessOne. However, people with higher incomes reported greater levels of anxiety, the report found.
Related: Physician practices buckling under financial stress of COVID
Three-quarters of all respondents, and 83% of parents, are concerned about losing their jobs.
Insurance and health care expenses are top of mind for consumers, the report found. Over half say they are worried they’ll lose their health insurance as a result of the pandemic, and 68% worry they won’t be able to pay for care.
Notably, income isn’t a buffer against fear, as 75% of people who earn at least $100,000 are worried about losing their jobs.
“The degree to which high-income consumers shoulder financial anxiety due to the coronavirus outbreak is surprising. For instance, high-income earners are more worried about their ability to cover medical expenses this year than those in lower income brackets,” the report noted. “High-income earners also are more likely or just as likely to say they would consider delaying care this year due to cost.”
High earners were almost twice as likely to say they would delay diagnostic procedures (43% versus 29% for consumers who earn less than $100,000). Forty-six percent of high earners said they would delay a necessary surgery that didn’t rise to the level of emergency, compared to 31% of those who earn less than $50,000 and 26% of those who are in between those two levels.
Related: Report: Primary care spending on the decline
As for what has high-income consumers so anxious, the report suggests they are more likely to carry credit card debt than low-income individuals. Consumers are also less confident in their ability to pay bills.
AccessOne suggests that health care providers need to “adopt and implement affordable payment options for all consumers — quickly — to give consumers confidence in their ability to pay their medical expenses. Flexible payment options also will be critical to protecting an organization’s bottom line during and after the pandemic.”
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