In Case You Haven't Heard…

Abstract

Among people with depression or anxiety, those with medical debt were twice as likely to delay or forego mental health care compared with those who were debt-free, according to a new study published July 17 in JAMA Psychiatry. “The prevalence of medical debt in the U.S. is already quite high, and the prevalence was significantly higher among adults with depression and anxiety,” lead researcher Kyle Moon, a Ph.D. student in the Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, stated in a Hopkins' news release. “On the flip side, a relatively high number of adults with no medical debt also report delaying or forgoing mental health care, and medical debt appears to compound the problem. Researchers collected data from more than 27,600 participants in an annual federal survey on health. They found that about 37% of people with medical debt delayed mental health care for their depression and another 38% didn't seek care. Health systems could help this situation by making sure care is affordable, Moon said. “They could expand services for patients by improving the processes to determine patient eligibility for financial assistance,” he said.