The silent affordability crisis facing sick people

– Drew Altman
May 8, 2019

People with major medical illnesses are having serious problems paying for the health care they need — a crisis that is flying under the radar while attention is focused on hot policy issues like the Affordable Care Act and “Medicare for All.”

The big picture: A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Los Angeles Times shows that a strikingly large share of people with serious medical conditions are struggling to pay their medical bills, often wreaking havoc with their family budgets and causing them to cut back on care.

By the numbers: Take people with employer coverage who have a chronic condition such as hypertension, asthma, a serious mental health condition, diabetes, heart disease or cancer. It’s not a small group; just over half of those with employer coverage say someone in their family is currently receiving treatment for one of these or another chronic condition.

  • 6 out of 10 people in this group report that they or a family member skipped or postponed medical care or prescription drugs they needed because of costs, or tried a home remedy instead.

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