Nearly half of Americans swimming in medical debt — report

About 70 percent of households in the United States are struggling with their medical bills, says Hal M. Bundrick, a certified financial planner and regular contributor to MainStreet.com.

A more alarming fact from a recent report from Kaiser Family Foundation, shows that 48 percent of Americans would have to sell something or take out a loan to afford an emergency that cost them $400 or more.

The Kaiser study says that the average yearly deductible is three times that — $1,200 for an individual plan last year — and oftentimes ratchets up higher for those without employer sponsorship.

The Affordable Care Act capped out-of-pocket costs for individual consumers at $6,350, which increased this year to $6,600.

For more medical coding, billing and collections news:

Share of medical debt collection complaints go up
Steep costs of ICD-10 implementation; steep costs of ICD-10 delay
CoPatient co-fights billing discrepancies with consumers

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