Outstanding medical debt has become a common theme among personal bankruptcies in America, according to a March survey in the American Journal of Public Health - with nearly 60% of people admitting a medical expense "very much" or "somewhat" contributed to their bankruptcy - more than the percentage who cited home foreclosure or student loans.
As The Atlantic's Olga Khazan notes, this "uniquely American phenomenon" is due to a number of factors, including an increasing lack of insurance, crappy high-deductible insurance, and a woefully erroneous medical billing system.
There are as many reasons for the medical-debt crisis as there are diagnostic codes that rule the medical-billing world. In interviews, half a dozen consumer advocates told me they are concerned that the problem will get worse, since the uninsured rate is going up, and more people are signing up for cheaper but skimpier health-insurance plans introduced by the Trump administration. More Americans are also now on high-deductible health plans, many of which require patients to pay thousands before insurance kicks in. Networks of doctors have grown narrower, meaning more providers are likely to be out of network.
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