{"id":393385,"date":"2025-11-21T00:07:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T00:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/393385\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T00:07:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T00:07:14","slug":"one-in-8-massachusetts-residents-have-medical-debt-report-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/393385\/","title":{"rendered":"One in 8 Massachusetts residents have medical debt, report finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

The study comes as Massachusetts officials are preparing for medical debt to potentially balloon amid federal policy changes that could lead to more uninsured and underinsured people. The state estimates<\/a> that up to 300,000 recipients of Medicaid, the government insurer for the poor and disabled, could lose coverage due to new eligibility and work requirements, and the expiration of certain subsidies will make health insurance more expensive<\/a> for people who purchase their own. <\/p>\n

The consequences of such debt are far reaching, said the study, causing people to forgo medical care and struggle to pay for food and housing.<\/p>\n

In 2006, Governor Mitt Romney signed a law intended to provide health insurance to nearly all state residents, a statute that became the model for the federal Affordable Care Act. But the state, which boasts some of the premier hospitals and doctors, also has some of the highest health care costs in the nation.<\/p>\n

The new study found that Massachusetts residents in families with incomes between 139 and 500 percent of the federal poverty level \u2014 or roughly $39,000 to $139,000 for a family of four \u2014 <\/b>and Black residents were more likely to have $2,000 or more in medical debt. They were also more likely to have been in debt for more than a year.<\/p>\n

Medical debt stemming from a time when not all family members were insured was more common among Black residents and residents with family incomes below 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $83,000 for a family of four, said the report.<\/p>\n

Interruptions in insurance strongly contributed to medical debt. Residents who had periods without insurance in their family reported nearly double the rate of debt as those where all family members were continuously insured, said the report.<\/p>\n

But having no interruptions in health insurance is hardly an impregnable shield against debt, the report said. For residents with continuous insurance, the most common causes of medical debt were deductibles (72 percent), copays (65 percent), or medical care not being covered by insurance (53 percent).<\/p>\n

The report, called \u201cBurdened by the Bill: Understanding Medical Debt in Massachusetts,\u201d pooled data from health insurance surveys in 2021 and 2023 to generate a detailed analysis of unpaid medical bills in the state of 7.1 million residents.<\/p>\n

Ashley Blackburn, interim executive director of the nonprofit Health Care For All, said the burden of medical debt in Massachusetts was deeply troubling and only growing. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that this burden isn\u2019t borne equally, with low- and moderate-income families and Black residents more likely to carry debt that exceeds $2,000 and to repay that debt over a longer and costlier period,\u201d she said. \u201cMassachusetts must act now to protect consumers already facing mounting debt that will only grow and worsen with upcoming federal cuts to health coverage and care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lora Pellegrini, chief executive of the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans, which represents 13 insurers in the state excluding Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, agreed that medical debt is straining families\u2019 finances. <\/p>\n

But she pointed a finger at health care systems, doctors, drug makers, and complex socioeconomic factors for contributing to the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh provider prices, the rising cost of prescription drugs, billing practices, and factors such as health status and income all contribute to medical debt and to the underlying growth in premiums and out-of-pocket costs,\u201d she said in a statement. <\/p>\n

The report came out when health care costs for millions of Americans are poised to rise next year. The enhanced tax credits for Affordable Care Act insurance premiums are due to expire at the end of the year without action by Congress and President Trump, and some experts predict that out-of-pocket costs could double. The expiration of the tax credits was a key factor in the record-breaking 43-day government shutdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Congress and the president refuse to extend the enhanced subsidies, the problems described in this report will look even worse just a few years from now,\u201d said Alan Sager, a professor of health policy and management at the Boston University School of Public Health and member of the council that oversees the center that issued the report. \u201cPeople will suffer, and people will go without health care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey agreed, calling on Trump and congressional Republicans to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits and condemning Medicaid cuts. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also why we are taking action here in Massachusetts to lower costs, including by capping co-pays and deductibles for the first time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jonathan.saltzman@globe.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The study comes as Massachusetts officials are preparing for medical debt to potentially balloon amid federal policy changes…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":393386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[210,1141,1142,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-393385","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115584777988908943","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}