{"id":134,"date":"2018-06-11T03:21:44","date_gmt":"2018-06-11T03:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthministryfund.blackwellstaging.com\/?p=134"},"modified":"2019-01-28T23:14:01","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T23:14:01","slug":"new-medical-debt-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/new-medical-debt-study\/","title":{"rendered":"New study finds large number of Kansans living with medical debt"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

MD News\r\nFebruary\/March 2018, Greater Kansas Edition<\/a><\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Consumer survey provides rich\r\ndata on the magnitude of states’ access problems<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC\u2014 With\r\nstakeholders concerned about rising costs and access to health care, a new study<\/a> finds that roughly one-quarter of adults (ages 19 to\r\n64) in both Kansas and Missouri, and one-third of children in both states, live\r\nin households carrying medical debt. Those percentages represent almost half a\r\nmillion people in Kansas and more than a million in Missouri.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

An even greater share of the\r\npopulation had problems paying off medical bills in the past year. In addition,\r\none in five lacked health insurance coverage. These findings\u2014from the Kansas and Missouri Consumer Health Access Survey (KMHS)<\/a>administered by RTI International\u2014provide\r\nthe most comprehensive data to date on health care access in Kansas and\r\nMissouri to inform policymakers and other stakeholders.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

“This report confirms that\r\nmedical debt and lack of insurance financially ruins hundreds of thousands of\r\nfamilies in Kansas and Missouri,” said David Jordan, president of the\r\nUnited Methodist Health Ministry Fund. “These extreme levels of financial\r\nstress mean families avoid seeking healthcare when they need it and they miss\r\nmore days of school and work. Lack of insurance is an issue that policymakers\r\nmust address both for the welfare of families and the health of our states\u2019\r\neconomies.”<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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The survey was funded by five\r\nhealth foundations that work in the two states: the REACH Healthcare\r\nFoundation; the Kansas Health Foundation; Health Care Foundation of Greater\r\nKansas City; Missouri Foundation for Health; and, United Methodist Health\r\nMinistry Fund.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cIt is critical in today\u2019s\r\nchanging landscape to have up-to-date information particularly on those most in\r\nneed,\u201d said Bridget McCandless, M.D., president and CEO of the Health Care\r\nFoundation of Greater Kansas City (HCF). \u201cThe data will help HCF identify\r\nwhere there are opportunities for improvement around access, affordability and\r\nthe continuing unmet health needs of the Kansas City area.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cCommunities often need richer\r\ndetail on access to health care and coverage in their communities than federal\r\nsurveys can offer,\u201d explained Thomas Duffy, senior survey research scientist at\r\nRTI and project director of KMHS. \u201cThe bi-state survey allowed the funders to\r\ncapture consumer data from a larger geographic area and expand the list of survey\r\nquestions to gain a deeper understanding of health challenges in all areas of\r\nthe two states.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The survey found that\r\napproximately 60 percent of working-age adults in Kansas and Missouri have a\r\ndiagnosed chronic condition such as heart disease or diabetes, while one-third\r\nhave a mental health diagnosis, substance abuse or addiction. Among those with\r\nchronic health care needs, significant numbers reported that they are going\r\nwithout needed care due to cost or lack of coverage. Among adults with a chronic\r\ncondition, 19 percent in Kansas and 28 percent in Missouri did not get needed\r\ncare in the past year. Among adults with a mental health diagnosis, 22 percent\r\nin Kansas and 35 percent in Missouri did not get needed mental health care or\r\ncounseling.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThis survey raises awareness of health\r\naccess needs in Kansas and also helps us understand the complex issues facing\r\nthe state,\u201d said Steve Coen, Kansas Health Foundation president and CEO.\r\n\u201cImproving access to care for vulnerable populations is a critical component of\r\nour KHF work to improve the health of all Kansans.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Barriers to dental care were\r\nreported by 40 percent of residents in both states, and among people of all\r\nracial and ethnic backgrounds and income levels. Access barriers to dental care\r\nwere significantly higher for people with public coverage than private coverage\r\nand were highest for uninsured adults. More than 90 percent of uninsured adults\r\nin both states also lacked dental coverage; nearly two-thirds reported a dental\r\naccess problem such as no dental visit in the past year or unmet dental care\r\nneeds.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cPeople living in all regions of\r\nKansas and Missouri reported difficulty accessing dental care, with gaps in\r\ncare and dental insurance coverage cited across all racial and ethnic groups,\u201d\r\nsaid Brenda Sharpe, president and CEO of the REACH Healthcare Foundation. \u201cThis\r\nongoing high level of unmet need points to the urgency of pursuing innovative\r\nsolutions for expanding the availability and affordability of dental care.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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The survey found these problems to be\r\nsignificantly more prevalent among low-income residents with family income\r\nbelow 138 percent of the federal poverty level. In Kansas and Missouri, roughly\r\none-quarter of adults ages 19 to 64 reported family income under 138 percent of\r\nthe federal poverty level. Of this low-income adult population, 44 percent of\r\nadults in Kansas and 33 percent in Missouri lacked health insurance. Of\r\nlow-income adults with chronic conditions, 32 percent in Kansas and 52 percent\r\nin Missouri did not get needed care in the past year. Similarly, 34 percent of\r\nlow-income adults in Kansas and 61 percent in Missouri with a diagnosed mental\r\nhealth condition did not get needed care.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Residents ages 19 through 64 in\r\nthis income bracket would be potentially eligible for Medicaid coverage were\r\neither state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.*<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThe KMHS yields a robust picture\r\nof access issues affecting broad populations in the region and particularly for\r\nconsumers below 138% of poverty,\u201d Duffy explained. \u201cThe bi-state survey design\r\nrevealed racial and ethnic disparities in access to care, particularly for Hispanic\r\nadults compared to white non-Hispanic adults, but more analysis would be needed\r\nto gain a full understanding of these differences.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cAccess to health insurance is\r\nfundamental to addressing racial and ethnic health disparities,\u201d said Thomas\r\nMcAuliffe, director of health policy for Missouri Foundation for Health. \u201cThis\r\nsurvey points us to some of the significant disparities communities of color\r\nface when entering into and obtaining services from the health care system. The\r\ncharge is for substantive dialogue and more intense analysis to occur around\r\nsolutions.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Survey Methods<\/strong>
\r\nThe Kansas and Missouri Consumer Health Access Survey (KMHS)<\/a> focused on health and dental insurance\r\ncoverage, unmet needs for chronic conditions, including mental health\r\ndiagnoses, and unmet need for serious injury and prescription drugs. Adults\r\nresiding in Kansas and Missouri were randomly selected to complete the survey\r\nthrough dual-frame random digit dial cellphone and landline sampling. A total\r\nof 4,274 adults and 1,159 children via an adult proxy were interviewed. The\r\nsample was adjusted using population weights so that estimates represent the\r\nnon-institutionalized resident population in each state. The survey was\r\nadministered between September 2017 and January 2018 by RTI International in\r\nResearch Triangle Park, North Carolina.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Use the following links\r\nto download the <\/strong>KMHS Final Report<\/a><\/strong>, <\/strong>Methodology Report<\/a><\/strong>, <\/strong>Survey Questionnaire<\/a><\/strong>, and <\/strong>Presentation Slide Deck<\/a><\/strong>.<\/strong>
\r\n
\r\n*Respondents reported family income based on the 2016 tax year. In 2016,\r\nthe 138 percent federal poverty threshold income was $33,534 for a family of\r\nfour. (Source: US Department of Health & Human Services, Office of the\r\nAssistant Secretary of Planning and Evaluation (2016). Computations for the\r\n2016 Poverty Guidelines. Obtained from: https:\/\/aspe.hhs.gov\/computations-2016-poverty-guidelines,\r\nMarch 22, 2018.)<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MD News February\/March 2018, Greater Kansas Edition Consumer survey provides rich data on the magnitude of states’ access problems RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC\u2014 With stakeholders concerned about rising costs and access to health care, a new study finds that roughly one-quarter of adults (ages 19 to 64) in both Kansas and Missouri, and one-third of children in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":498,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":419,"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions\/419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthfund.org\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}