RIVERWOODS, Ill.—A new report reveals financial stress is impacting how Americans seek and pay for medical care.
“As Americans find themselves living through a turbulent economic period, many people with medical debt are delaying non-emergency medical care in higher numbers than they were a year ago,” stated Discover Personal Loans, which conducted the survey. “Specifically, Americans with medical debt are putting off seeing a specialist (52%), being seen for a sickness (41%) and undergoing treatment plans recommended by their doctor (31%). Almost half of Americans with medical debt (47%) say that it will take them more than a year to pay down their current medical debt.”
Paying off medical debt, as well, has forced many Americans to forgo other daily expenses at higher rates than last year, including saving for retirement or falling behind on credit card payments, according to the company.
Finances surrounding medical debt are stressful in multiple ways, the survey found. For instance, 62% of people with medical debt said that figuring out how to pay for medical care causes them anxiety, while 32% say that understanding which costs insurance is going to cover is a source of anxiety.
Americans Saving Less
In addition, Americans have been saving less this year, the survey findings show. When asked how much money they have saved, not including retirement accounts, the number of respondents with less than $1,000 in savings jumped from 31% to 39% in 2022.
“Smaller savings impact Americans’ ability to pay for unexpected medical expenses, which can lead to financial hardship,” Discover Personal Loans said. “This year, 55% of Americans said that they are ill-prepared to cover the cost of an unexpected medical bill, up 12 percentage points from 2021.”
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