A study by the Centers for Disease Control found the number of people under 65 in households struggling to pay medical bills decreased by 3.6 million people, from 21.7 percent of respondents in 2011 to 20.3 percent in 2012.
Children were more likely than adults to be in families with burdensome medical bills, but the percent of children in such families dropped by almost 2 percentage points in the same time span, according to the study.
Nearly one in three uninsured or publicly insured people between 2011 and the first six months of 2012 lived in households that had trouble paying medical bills, twice as common as those who were privately insured.
While most demographic groups saw slight drops in the likelihood of their families to struggle with paying medical bills, the likelihood among the nearly poor— those earning twice the federal poverty line or less — grew from 34.1 percent in the first half of 2011 to 35 percent in the last half of that year, falling back to 34.1 percent in the first half of 2012. Blacks dropped 1.3 percentage points from 27.9 percent as of June 2011 by the end of that year but rose most of the way back to 27.4 percent by June 2012.
More Articles on Healthcare Spending:
Children were more likely than adults to be in families with burdensome medical bills, but the percent of children in such families dropped by almost 2 percentage points in the same time span, according to the study.
Nearly one in three uninsured or publicly insured people between 2011 and the first six months of 2012 lived in households that had trouble paying medical bills, twice as common as those who were privately insured.
While most demographic groups saw slight drops in the likelihood of their families to struggle with paying medical bills, the likelihood among the nearly poor— those earning twice the federal poverty line or less — grew from 34.1 percent in the first half of 2011 to 35 percent in the last half of that year, falling back to 34.1 percent in the first half of 2012. Blacks dropped 1.3 percentage points from 27.9 percent as of June 2011 by the end of that year but rose most of the way back to 27.4 percent by June 2012.
More Articles on Healthcare Spending: