The first candidate that stakes out this issue in the Presidential Election will have a substantial block of voters in his/her corner.

You are going to see this becoming a bigger and bigger issue as the number of Baby Boomers continue to increase. Studies are showing the fastest growing population of credit card debt is seniors and it is for necessities rather than luxuries. Also, unlike their parents, Baby Boomers have no savings, so in times of medical emergency credit cards are now their safety net. This is a huge and growing problem.

Using credit cards to pay medical bills adds to debt, says study

Posted on : Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:21:00 GMT | Author : Steve Walters News Category : Health

New ( News Alerts by Email click here ) NEW YORK: Increasing use of credit cards to pay medical expenses in the U.S. is allowing debt levels of families that resort to this measure to escalate and putting them at financial risk, according to an analysis by a public policy advocacy group. The non-partisan group Demos, in the study titled Borrowing to Stay Healthy: How Credit Card Debt Is Related to Medical Expenses, found that those who identified medical expenses as a factor in their credit card balances had much higher credit card debt than those who did not. The group, along with another research organization, the Access Project, had analyzed data from a 2005 national survey involving phone interviews of households that had incomes between 50 per cent and 120 per cent of the local median income and credit card debt for three months or longer. The analysis revealed that households with medical debt had an average credit card debt of $11,623, while households without medical debt had an average credit card debt of $7,964. As much as 29 per cent of households reported that medical bills contributed to their debt and of this group, 69 per cent had a major medical expense in the previous three years. The analysis also revealed that even those with health insurance are saddled with out-of-pocket expenses for health care as they have no assets or income safety nets to cover these significant costs. Average credit card debt of the uninsured who had medical debt was 32 per cent higher than for insured people who had medical debt. Adults in the age group of 18-34 had the highest levels of medical debt, averaging $13,303, compared to an average credit card balance of $7,450 among young adults without medical debt. The authors of the report contended that when a person takes out a large loan, the repayment is spread over several years. However, since hospitals and medical services insist payment before providing the service, people have no alternative but to use the credit cards, repayment of the debt having to be made within 30 days. The report recommended evolving national guidelines for identifying and differentiating medical debt, limiting the entry of medical providers into financial services, increasing oversight for medical credit cards and lines of credit attached to HSAs, improving screenings for financial assistance programs and restricting fees and interest on medical credit cards. Copyright © 2007 Respective Author