Trends in Healthcare Affordability

Health Reform Monitoring Survey recently released a brief examining trends in healthcare affordability. Here are some key findings from the report:

·         The share of adults with problems paying medical bills declined from 22% in 2013 to 17.3% in 2015.

·         Financial difficulty decreased in Medicaid expansion states (5.1%) and nonexpansion states (4.2%).

·         25% of uninsured adults reported problems paying medical bills, compared with 15.1% of insured adults.

·         Nearly a third (30.7%) of adults in fair/poor health had medical bill problems vs. 14.9% of other adults.

·         24.2% of low-income adults (below 138% FPL) had medical bill issues vs. 14.4% of higher income adults.

·         Almost three-quarters of adults with problems paying medical bills reported forgoing health care due to cost.

Source: Health Reform Monitoring Survey, May 21, 2015