The number of patients who are not able to pay their healthcare bills in full is rising and may reach 95% by 2020, according to data released yesterday by TransUnion.
The data was released at the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Annual National Institute event in Orlando, Fla.
Currently, 68% of patients with a healthcare bill of at least $500 are not able to pay off the balance in full, up from 49% in 2014.
Along with patients who are not able to pay off their healthcare bills, the percentage of patients who have made partial payments continues to decline, to 77% in 2016, from 90% a year earlier.
Other data released by TransUnion include:
- 63% of hospital bills were $500 or less; of those hospital bills, 68% were not paid in full in 2016.
- 14% of hospital bills were $3,000 or more; of those hospital bills, 99% were not paid in full in 2016.
- 10% of hospital bills were $500 to $1,000; of those bills 85% were not paid in full in 2016.
Higher deductibles as a result of the Affordable Care Act is one of the reasons cited by TransUnion for the increase in unpaid healthcare bills. Hospitals wrote off $36 billion of unpaid debts in 2015, according to the credit bureau.
“There are many reasons why more patients are struggling to make their healthcare payments in full, the most prominent of which are higher deductibles and the increase in patient responsibility from 10% to 30% over the last few years,” said TransUnion’s Jonathan Wiik, author of a book “Healthcare Revolution: The Patient is the New Payer” “This shift in healthcare payments has been taking place for well over a decade, but we are seeing more pronounced changes in how hospital bills are paid during just the last few years.”
The increase in unpaid healthcare debts will likely lead to more hospital closings, especially in rural areas.
