March 5 (UPI) — A new Gallup survey has suggested that 12% of American adults, or about 31 million people, were forced to borrow tens of billions of dollars in the past year to pay for personal medical bills.
The findings released Wednesday was a joint partnership with West Health, a family of nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations centered on aging and healthcare.
The survey conducted Nov. 11-18 comprised of 3,583 U.S. adults via web utilizing the Gallup Panel with respondents from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
It found that women, Black, Hispanic and young adults were more likely to borrow for health expenses, the survey says. It added that some 58% of the American public share concern over medical debt if faced with a medical emergency.
Congressional Democrats, meanwhile, have warned of possible cuts to safety net programs such as Medicaid and Social Security as the GOP takes an axe to the federal bureaucracy.
It arrived as House Republicans propose about $880 billion in cuts or other savings from a congressional committee overseeing Medicaid. And amid concern over the future of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has returned billions back to the public, that was tasked with protecting consumers with medical debt which effectively was shut down by the Trump administration.
Medical debt “is the end product of an expensive healthcare system,” Patricia Kelmar, senior director of health care campaigns at U.S. PIRG Education Fund, told USA Today. “People are paying a lot out of pocket,” she added.
Nearly six in 10 Americans have concern over the idea of looming medical debt, the survey by Gallup and West Health found.
According to the survey, nearly one in five young adults aged 18 to 29 — or about 18% of the respondents — reported how they needed to borrow money elsewhere to pay for healthcare, with similar rates by adults aged 30-49.
“This stands in stark contrast to the 9% of Americans who are 50 to 64 and only 2% of those 65 and older who say they needed to do so,” it indicated.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s pick to be be NIH director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, on Wednesday was on Capitol Hill to answer questions by lawmakers on goals to improve public health as he sidestepped question on drug pricing and attracted praise by conservatives.
