Paying for health care-related costs, including health insurance, ranks among the top three financial worries Americans say they face today, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
More Americans, 43 percent, said paying for gas is their most challenging financial issue, followed by finding a good paying job (27 percent). But 25 percent of Americans said they were having a “serious problem” paying for health care. Respondents were surveyed in June for the Kaiser’s Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008.
The results reflect the growing number of Americans paying more for medical care and the rapid growth of medical bad debt. At least one analyst expects for-profit hospitals to generate nearly $14.6 billion in total bad debt in 2008, up from $12.4 billion last year ("Hospital Bad Debt Expense Could Rise 17% in 2008,” Jan. 16.)
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