Below are five studies Becker's Hospital Review reported in June that shed light on Americans' medical debt and hospital prices.
- In the past year, cost was a bigger factor driving Americans to skip recommended healthcare than fear of contracting COVID-19, according to a report from Patientco. Thirty-four percent of female patients and 30 percent of male patients said they have avoided care in the past year citing concerns about out-of-pocket costs.
- Credit monitoring site Credit Karma said its members' medical debt grew by 6.5 percent from May 2020 to March 2021.
- The 100 U.S. hospitals with the highest revenues charged patients an average of seven times the actual cost of the care they provided, according to research from Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University.
- Fifty-one percent of emergency and 39 percent of non-emergency ground ambulance rides result in an out-of-network charge, according to a report published June 24 by the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker.
- Privately insured families spent an average $3,068 out of pocket for maternal and newborn hospitalizations from 2016 to 2019, according to a recent Pediatrics study. Bills exceeded $10,000 for 9 percent of families who needed neonatal intensive care.