Yes, unpaid medical bills contribute to higher healthcare costs in a few ways. Hospitals and other providers may:
* Raise prices to offset uncollected bills.
* Spend more time and resources on collecting payments.
* Be more likely to deny care to uninsured or underinsured patients.
This can lead to higher overall healthcare costs for everyone.
Despite over 90% of the United States population having some form of health insurance, medical debt remains a persistent problem. This analysis shows that 20 million people (nearly 1 in 12 adults) owe medical debt.
www.healthsystemtracker.org