The Burden of Medical Debt: Results from the Kaiser Family Foundation/New York Times Medical Bills Survey

Liz Hamel, Mira Norton, Karen Pollitz, Larry Levitt, Gary Claxton, and Mollyann Brodie
Published: Jan 05, 2016

Group		Percent who say they or someone in their household had problems paying medical bills in the past 12 months
	Total	26%
Insurance status	Uninsured	53
	Employer coverage	19
	Non-group coverage	22
	Medicaid	18
Deductible level (among those with employer or non-group coverage	Private insurance, high deductible¹	26
	Private insurance, lower deductible	15
Annual household income	Less than $50,000	37
	$50,000-$99,999	26
	$100,000 or more	14
Disability prevents from participating fully in work, school, housework, other activities	Yes	47
	No	22
Self-reported health status	Fair/poor	45
Self-reported health status	Excellent/very good/good	22
Receiving regular medical treatment for any chronic health problem	Yes	34
	No	23
Gender	Male	23
Gender	Female	29
Age	18-29	31
	30-49	24
	50-64	25
Children in household	Yes	29
Children in household	No	24
Education	High school or less	32
	Some college	30
	College graduate	16
Race/ethnicity	White, non-Hispanic	24
	Black, non-Hispanic	31
	Hispanic	32
	Other/mixed race	25
Census Region	Northeast	18
	Midwest	23
	South	32
	West	26

Conclusion Survey Methodology