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MANAGED CARE August 2002. ©MediMedia USA
NEWS AND COMMENTARY
Patients' unpaid bills come from physicians, hospitals
With health care costs rising and the number of uninsured Americans close to 40 million, physicians and hospitals are feeling the pinch. Consumers who have had problems paying health care bills say that those expenses are mostly owed for services by hospitals, doctors, and other professionals, according to a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, National Public Radio, and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. The information comes from a nationwide telephone survey of 1,200 adults conducted between March 28 and May 1. Twenty-one percent say they have had problems paying bills for various reasons.
Of patients who owed money, the percent who owed it for:
SOURCE: NPR/KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION/KENNEDY SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT, HEALTH CARE SURVEY, MAY 2002