Based on data from a national survey of low- and middle-income households with credit card debt, “Borrowing to Stay Healthy” illustrates that those who identified medical expenses as a factor in their credit card balances had much higher credit card debt than those who did not.For a copy of the report, click here.
As health care costs continue to rise faster than incomes, families are turning to credit cards to pay for medical care, according to new research by Demos and the Access Project. The public policy groups published the findings today in a report entitled “Borrowing to Stay Healthy: How Credit Card Debt Is Related to Medical Expenses.”

Based on data from a national survey of low- and middle-income households with credit card debt, “Borrowing to Stay Healthy” illustrates that those who identified medical expenses as a factor in their credit card balances had much higher credit card debt than those who did not. Americans with insurance, the report shows, increasingly find themselves paying unmanageable out-of-pocket expenses for health care - and do not have assets or income safety nets to cover the extra, often significant costs.

“Too many working people are piling up debt on high interest credit cards, and risking their financial security, simply because they have the misfortune of getting sick,” said Mark Rukavina, Director of the Access Project and co-author of the report. “We can’t let this happen in America.”