Aug. 22—Americans of all ages are carrying growing health care debts, even as older Americans are paying twice as much more for their life-saving prescription drugs than one year ago, two recent surveys reveal.
The latest Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey finds some 37 percent of adults have medical bill problems or debt—and it is not just the uninsured facing growing medical bills. Sixty-two percent of the adults were insured at the time their medical bill or medical problem occurred, the survey reveals. In fact, two-thirds of those with health care debt pay 10 percent or more of their annual income to health insurance premiums.
Wholesale prices for brand name prescription drugs most commonly used by older Americans rose at twice the rate of inflation in the year that ended March 31, according to a report by the University of Minnesota and the AARP. For seniors—who have more prescription drugs than the overall population, many of whom live on fixed incomes—the increase could cost as much as $144 more a year. For many on the financial edge, that increase is critical.
Meanwhile private health insurers are getting ready to cash in on the flawed Medicare prescription drug program the Bush administration strong-armed through Congress in 2003. Those private companies may begin promoting their plans Oct. 1 and start enrolling seniors Nov. 15 for the program that begins Jan. 1, 2006.
More
