Hi there,

If you think Democracy Now!’s reporting is a critical line of defense against war, climate catastrophe and authoritarianism, please make your donation of $10 or more right now. Today, a generous donor will DOUBLE your donation, which means it’ll go 2x as far to support our independent journalism. Democracy Now! is funded by you, and that’s why we’re counting on your donation to keep us going strong. Please give today. Every dollar makes a difference—in fact, gets doubled! Thank you so much.
-Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Report: 79 Million Have Trouble Paying Medical Bills

HeadlineAug 21, 2008

An estimated 79 million adults in the United States are now having problems paying medical bills or are paying off medical debt. This according to a new report by the Commonwealth Fund. Declining insurance coverage and rising healthcare costs are also contributing to the sick skimping on needed care. 45 percent of adults reported that the high costs of healthcare prevented them from getting needed care in 2007. Karen Davis, the president of the Commonwealth Fund said, “These findings provide further evidence that the health system is falling short of where it needs to be to ensure health and economic security. We need a new administration to make universal and affordable health insurance available.” It is estimated that nearly two-thirds of all adults in the country —- or 116 million people -— were either uninsured for a time during the past year, were underinsured, reported a problem paying medical bills, or said they did not get needed healthcare because of cost. Of the major presidential candidates, only two — independent Ralph Nader and Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney — are calling for a single-payer healthcare system.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top