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Americans Concerned that Medical Costs Will Burden Finances

By Cheri Cheng | Update Date: Sep 05, 2014 03:59 PM EDT

The majority of Americans reported worrying about medical costs, a new survey released by Bankrate.com found.

"This shows that a good chunk of the population is feeling a lot of financial stress," stated Doug Whiteman, insurance analyst for Bankrate.com, according to USA Today. "People can be on the hook for thousands of dollars before their health insurance coverage takes over and starts paying the bill."

The survey interviewed 1,006 adults regarding medical costs. The team calculated that 55 percent of the participants stated that they were concerned that their medical debts will burden their finances. 25 percent of the adults admitted to having medical debts that were larger than their emergency savings. Out of this group of people, 44 percent of them stated that they had a yearly income that was less than $30,000. In contrast, 25 percent of people with a yearly income of up to $75,000 stated that their medical debt surpassed their emergency savings. Only six percent of people making more than $75,000 a year reported being in this situation.

In terms of health insurance, 66 percent of the participants stated that their current situation and their ability to have good quality health care is about the same as the previous year. 19 percent said their health insurance situation and access were worse this year and 14 percent said they were better. 55 percent of the adults reported being worried about not having access to affordable health insurance in the future. People in the age group of 30 to 64 were the most concern about having affordable health insurance.

51 percent of the participants stated that their opinions regarding the Affordable Care Act did not change. 28 percent reported having more negative feelings whereas 14 percent felt more positive.

The report's findings suggest that health care insurance and medical costs are major issues that need to be addressed.

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