Financial Burden of Health Care, 2001-2004
Source: Health Affairs (Commonwealth Fund)
Rising health care costs, combined with slowed economic growth, have created greater financial burdens for U.S. families in recent years--and raised the likelihood that they will face problems paying bills, accumulate medical debt, and even forgo needed medical care. In a Commonwealth Fund-supported study examining families' financial burdens and out-of-pocket spending between 2001 and 2004, researchers found that by 2004, more than 45 million Americans lived in families with high financial burdens--spending more than 10 percent of their after-tax income on health care. That represents an increase of nearly 6 million people over 2001.