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In TFA: "A quarter of adults with health care debt owe more than $5,000."

by rxhernandez 4y ago

orangepurple 4y ago
Would that mean 25 million adults with health care debt owe more than $5,000?
- formerkrogemp 4y ago
  Yes.
- osrec 4y ago
  Yes, assuming the 100m comprises of adults only, which is probably how they would have reported it.
refurb 4y ago
Again, I “owed” that when my kid was born. Deductible plus co-insurance added up to about that. Not saying some people don’t have “bad” medical debt (they can’t repay) but to lump in all debt as “bad” is silly. Edit: Oh, it's a poll. Similar to the poll that said "Households earnings more than $250,000 are stuggling financially". I mean, it's a poll? Did you expect people to say "nah, I have medical debt but I can handle it no problem".
- treis 4y ago
  If you could or did pay it off then you wouldn't have been counted in the survey.
  - FreqSep 4y ago
    Well, no. You certainly could be someone who *could* pay it off but chooses not to for a variety of reasons. Many otherwise financially people I know carry some credit card debt. Now is that a large portion of people? I have no clue, and my anecdotal evidence certainly isn’t qualified to answer the question.
- burkaman 4y ago
  Please just read the article if you want to argue about it, it's not that long. > And about 1 in 5 with any amount of debt said they don't expect to ever pay it off. That's 20 million people. > About 1 in 7 people with debt said they've been denied access to a hospital, doctor, or other provider because of unpaid bills, according to the poll. That's 14 million people. > An even greater share ― about two-thirds ― have put off care they or a family member need because of cost. That's 66 million people. > Half of U.S. adults don't have the cash to cover an unexpected $500 health care bill That's 129 million people. Again, please read the whole thing, whether or not you want to comment more. This is important information for US residents.
  - FreqSep 4y ago
    > Half of U.S. adults don't have the cash to cover an unexpected $500 health care bill I recognize that this is an important discussion to have to improve US healthcare, so I’m not outright disagreeing with you. But I think this is a bit editorialized. Paying with cash is so rare in society. I don’t even have the cash to pay for my lunch - I just use a credit card. It shouldn’t be surprising. Half of U.S. adults said they would pay it immediately.(30% using savings,20% using a credit card they pay off that month) A further 21% said they would pay with a credit card and pay it off over time. (Anyone who is already in other forms of debt will probably take this option as they, by definition, don’t have the cash for other things.) Another 5% said they would make a payment plan with a provider / pay overtime. That’s 76% of the country that is knowledgeable about reasonable ways to pay for the services. Now, 24% using worse off options or not knowing - that’s not good at all. But it’s a far cry from the implication that “half of people can’t pay” But still this isn’t really a metric on the U.S. healthcare system directly - that would be asking why we have unexpected $500 bills, not which payment method people are using. And alternatively, or even in tandem, why people are not saving and planning ahead.
    - burkaman 4y ago
      I disagree that going into credit card debt or negotiating a payment plan are reasonable ways to pay for essential medical services.
FreqSep 4y ago
Note that this data is from a poll, not actual investigations of medical account balances. It includes the following, very broad, categories in the original polling methodology: “c. Any debt you owe to a bank, collection agency, or other lender that includes debt or loans used to pay medical or dental bills. d. Any medical or dental bills that you have put on a credit card, and are paying off over time.” Thus, by one interpretation, if you’re already in over $5,000 of credit card debt, and you charge a $10 prescription fill or $25 copay to that credit card, their methodology will now include you in the medical debt and medical debt amount statistics as having medical debt over $5,000. The specific wording of the “amount” question seemingly tries to prevent this, but considering the above was classified as medical debt prior in the polling, it’s not hard at all to imagine people answering in the affirmative. Is this really true? I don’t know, that’s a complicated discussion. There are certainly people who are paying medical costs with credit cards. They deserve to be included. But it does seem possibly a bit too broad.

In TFA: "A quarter of adults with health care debt owe more than $5,000."

orangepurple 4y ago

Would that mean 25 million adults with health care debt owe more than $5,000?

formerkrogemp 4y ago
Yes.
osrec 4y ago
Yes, assuming the 100m comprises of adults only, which is probably how they would have reported it.

refurb 4y ago

Again, I “owed” that when my kid was born. Deductible plus co-insurance added up to about that. Not saying some people don’t have “bad” medical debt (they can’t repay) but to lump in all debt as “bad” is silly. Edit: Oh, it's a poll. Similar to the poll that said "Households earnings more than $250,000 are stuggling financially". I mean, it's a poll? Did you expect people to say "nah, I have medical debt but I can handle it no problem".

treis 4y ago
If you could or did pay it off then you wouldn't have been counted in the survey.
- FreqSep 4y ago
  Well, no. You certainly could be someone who *could* pay it off but chooses not to for a variety of reasons. Many otherwise financially people I know carry some credit card debt. Now is that a large portion of people? I have no clue, and my anecdotal evidence certainly isn’t qualified to answer the question.
burkaman 4y ago
Please just read the article if you want to argue about it, it's not that long. > And about 1 in 5 with any amount of debt said they don't expect to ever pay it off. That's 20 million people. > About 1 in 7 people with debt said they've been denied access to a hospital, doctor, or other provider because of unpaid bills, according to the poll. That's 14 million people. > An even greater share ― about two-thirds ― have put off care they or a family member need because of cost. That's 66 million people. > Half of U.S. adults don't have the cash to cover an unexpected $500 health care bill That's 129 million people. Again, please read the whole thing, whether or not you want to comment more. This is important information for US residents.
- FreqSep 4y ago
  > Half of U.S. adults don't have the cash to cover an unexpected $500 health care bill I recognize that this is an important discussion to have to improve US healthcare, so I’m not outright disagreeing with you. But I think this is a bit editorialized. Paying with cash is so rare in society. I don’t even have the cash to pay for my lunch - I just use a credit card. It shouldn’t be surprising. Half of U.S. adults said they would pay it immediately.(30% using savings,20% using a credit card they pay off that month) A further 21% said they would pay with a credit card and pay it off over time. (Anyone who is already in other forms of debt will probably take this option as they, by definition, don’t have the cash for other things.) Another 5% said they would make a payment plan with a provider / pay overtime. That’s 76% of the country that is knowledgeable about reasonable ways to pay for the services. Now, 24% using worse off options or not knowing - that’s not good at all. But it’s a far cry from the implication that “half of people can’t pay” But still this isn’t really a metric on the U.S. healthcare system directly - that would be asking why we have unexpected $500 bills, not which payment method people are using. And alternatively, or even in tandem, why people are not saving and planning ahead.
  - burkaman 4y ago
    I disagree that going into credit card debt or negotiating a payment plan are reasonable ways to pay for essential medical services.

FreqSep 4y ago

Note that this data is from a poll, not actual investigations of medical account balances. It includes the following, very broad, categories in the original polling methodology: “c. Any debt you owe to a bank, collection agency, or other lender that includes debt or loans used to pay medical or dental bills. d. Any medical or dental bills that you have put on a credit card, and are paying off over time.” Thus, by one interpretation, if you’re already in over $5,000 of credit card debt, and you charge a $10 prescription fill or $25 copay to that credit card, their methodology will now include you in the medical debt and medical debt amount statistics as having medical debt over $5,000. The specific wording of the “amount” question seemingly tries to prevent this, but considering the above was classified as medical debt prior in the polling, it’s not hard at all to imagine people answering in the affirmative. Is this really true? I don’t know, that’s a complicated discussion. There are certainly people who are paying medical costs with credit cards. They deserve to be included. But it does seem possibly a bit too broad.