26% Had Problems Paying Medical Bills

More than one in four Americans aged 18 to 64 say they or someone in their household had problems paying medical bills in the past 12 months, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation/New York Times survey. Here's who ran into trouble...

Percent of 18-to-64-year-olds with problems paying medical bills in past 12 months
Total with problems: 26%
With health insurance: 20%
Without health insurance: 53%

It's not hard to figure out why those without health insurance would have trouble paying their medical bills. But what caused trouble for those with health insurance? Three things, according to the survey's findings. Among the 20 percent of 18-to-64-year-olds with health insurance who had problems paying their medical bills...

• 75% could not afford their insurance plan's co-pays, deductibles, or coinsurance.
• 32% received care from an out-of-network provider, and their insurance did not cover the full cost of care. Most were surprised by the out-of-network bill, with 69 percent of those who received a surprise bill unaware that a provider was not in their plan's network. 
• 26% said their insurance claim was denied.

Source: The Burden of Medical Debt: Results from the Kaiser Family Foundation/New York Times Medical Bills Survey