Medical Debt in the US, 2009-2020.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Medical debt is an increasing concern in the US, yet there is limited understanding of the amount and distribution of medical debt, and its association with health care policies.

Objective

To measure the amount of medical debt nationally and by geographic region and income group and its association with Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

Design, setting, and participants

Data on medical debt in collections were obtained from a nationally representative 10% panel of consumer credit reports between January 2009 and June 2020 (reflecting care provided prior to the COVID-19 pandemic). Income data were obtained from the 2014-2018 American Community Survey. The sample consisted of 4.1 billion person-month observations (nearly 40 million unique indi

SUBMITTER: Kluender R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8293024 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature