From 1999 to 2009, premium costs for family insurance have grown by one hundred and thirty one percent. Easily, that’s over three times the rate at which working wages rose during this period. In this time of economic uncertainty, millions of jobs have been lost, placing workers who just lost their jobs at risk of also living without health insurance. For those who are still employed, employers are pushing more of the costs of health insurance onto their workers as they struggle with economic uncertainty. Then there are blue collar and retail workers, waitresses and the like who are paid less, work harder and are not offered health insurance plans at their jobs. No wonder that Americans are struggling to pay their medical bills.
In 2007, about seventy two million Americans struggled to pay their medical bills. A large amount of these people made paying off their medical bills their top priority, while they had to struggle to pay for basic necessities like food, rent or heat. More than THIRTY MILLION American adults used up ALL of their savings or BORROWED AGAINST THEIR HOMES in order to pay off medical bills. Sadly, in this period of economic uncertainty, many Americans could not prevent the bill collector from knocking on their door.
Thirty million Americans are contacted every year by collection agencies for delinquent medical bills; many struggle to pay these. Many people are unclear as to why their insurance refused to pay a claim, others are confused about the amount they owe. Over half of people who took the survey reported that they were puzzled by the medical jargon on their bills, and one in four reported confusion led them to allow bills to go past the due date or to be sent to a collection agency.
A delinquent medical bill that gets sent to collections will typically be reported to credit bureaus. This will result in a lower credit score. Medical accounts, even those that have been paid off in full will stay on a credit report for up to seven years. This will result in lower credit scores and increases the costs of mortgages, car loans, or credit card interest.
Luckily, Ohio Congresswoman Kilroy saw the consequences of outstanding medical bills. She decided to take action because she saw medical debt as unique. She introduced The Medical Debt Relief Act, which states that medical debt that is fully paid off or settled must be removed from a consumer’s credit report within thirty days.
Even though this will not repair our chaotic healthcare system, it will offer relief for those who have paid off their medical debt, while the rest of us wait for more efficient health care reform.
Mallory Megan is employed by a debt collection company. Also she writes articles on business and finance, consumer spending and collection agencies. You are welcome to reprint this article – but get your own unique content version here.
