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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
More than 45% of non-elderly adults with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) report financial hardship due to the associated medical bills, according to a Yale research team. Worse still, about one in five report being unable to pay those medical bills at all, said the researchers.
This study appears in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
According to the study, which was scaled up from the data sample provided by the 2013-2017 National Health Interview Survey, the non-elderly American adults with ASCVD experiencing medical bill-related financial hardship represents an estimated 3.9 million individuals.
"It is remarkably disheartening to see how many people suffer severe financial adverse effects of having atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease," said Harlan Krumholz, M.D., Yale cardiologist and director of the Yale Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE). "We have much work to do to ensure that people are spared the financial toxicity of disease that is imposed by our current healthcare system."
Of the group who indicated financial hardship, more than one in three reported that they have also experienced significant financial distress, cut back on purchasing basic necessities like food, and/or skimped on taking essential but costly medications in response to the burden of their medical bills.
Materials provided by Yale University.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @03:09AM (3 children)
Well, I can afford a lot. If I get charged $5000 for a blood test, and I only have $500 to my name, I can probably negotiate to a final $300 amount. But I own a house and a car, and have a decent job, so the provider has no reason to come down on price. They can just go to court and attach my assets if I don't pay.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 17 2019, @03:18AM (2 children)
So you just go around paying $5k for lists of random numbers or do you shop around first?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 18 2019, @07:03AM (1 child)
I'll remember to shop around next time I'm left unconscious after a car accident.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 18 2019, @05:21PM
Hilarious
1) What percent of medical expenses are used for something like that?
- Very little, the vast majority is for chronic conditions
2) Nothing is stopping you from shopping around beforehand.
- In general, planning ahead is now punished in our society