Twenty-one percent of adults in Kansas and 24 percent of adults in Missouri carry medical debt, according to the 2017 Kansas and Missouri Consumer Health Access Survey.
For the study, funded by five regional health foundations, researchers surveyed 4,274 adults and 1,159 children across the the two states to determine how Kansas and Missouri residents fared in terms of healthcare access. Interviews were conducted between September 2017 and January 2018.
Here are three additional findings from the report:
1. Twenty-eight percent and 34 percent of adults in Kansas and Missouri, respectively, had problems paying off their medical bills within the past year.
2. Thirty-three percent and 38 percent of children in Kansas and Missouri, respectively, lived in homes with medical bill problems.
3. Twenty percent of adults were uninsured in both states during the interview period. Kansas and Missouri have not expanded Medicaid under the ACA.