A study, published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine has linked individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 with having more debts that were placed with a collection agency and being more likely to have a lower credit score, regardless of whether the individuals were treated at a hospital or not.
The study is yet another illustration of the impact that the pandemic had on individuals across the country, one that is just starting to be felt.
Forty-two percent of individuals who had to be hospitalized to be treated for COVID-19 had a lower credit score six months after they were discharged, compared with 34% of those who hadn’t yet required a hospital stay but went on to need one later. More than 25% of individuals who were hospitalized had medical debt that was subsequently placed with a collection agency, compared with 19% of the non-hospitalized group.
The researchers looked at the anonymized health and financial records of 132,000 individuals living in Michigan to reach their conclusions.
“More than half of Americans now report having had COVID-19, and more than 450,000 have been hospitalized, so the potential number experiencing serious financial issues linked to their experience with the virus is high,” said Dr. Nora Becker of the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, in Ann Arbor. “While we cannot tell from our data exactly how linked these financial outcomes are with the aftermath of infection, we know that others have shown the impacts of COVID-19 infection on the short- and long-term ability to work. Further research in this area is crucial in order to figure out how to design policies to protect COVID-19 survivors from financial harm.”
