Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - Folks across the country are scrambling to catch up on their medical bills, but more patients are finding themselves unable to pay.
It’s leaving hospitals with loads of debt, and a bill that taxpayers may ultimately have to pay.
A recent poll shows a huge increase in the number of people having trouble paying for health care or prescriptions. In 2007, 18 percent of people said they struggled with those payments.
In 2008, that jumped to 21 percent, which amounts to 6.6 million more folks.
Local hospitals expect the problem to keep getting worse.
It's David Harris' job to make sure that people who can pay their medical bills. He's Crouse Hospital's manager of financial counseling. “There's a trend of people coming in who've previously had insurance but now layoffs, lost their jobs, to cover cobra costs,” Harris said.
It's a situation many have never been in before. “They're coming and asking what help is available? They want to pay their bills, their intention is right but don't know how to.”
Hospitals have what's called bad debt and charity care. Bad debt encompasses unpaid bills; charity care discounts medical bills.
In 2007, Crouse had a total of 3.6 million dollars in those categories; in 2008, it jumped to 4.9 million.
St. Joseph's hospital had $19.6 million in 2007, and preliminary studies show 2008 is around $21.7 million.
There are always going to be the uninsured, but what local hospitals are seeing more of are people who have insurance but have very high deductibles, as high as 1,500 or 2,000. In many cases, those are the patients who can’t pay their bill. “They're finding themselves with a huge bill that's applied to their deductible”
Hospitals try to get everyone the care they need, at a price they can afford. However, it's a challenge that is creating a strain on hospitals.
