Patients with chronic disease experience a significantly greater burden of adverse financial outcomes than healthier patients, according to an Aug. 22 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The study analyzed insurance claims data from January 2019 to January 2021 linked to commercial credit data for adults 21 years and older who were enrolled in a commercial preferred provider organization in Michigan.
The study included nearly 2.9 million adults; of that group, 1.8 million or 61.4 percent had no chronic conditions, 504,000 or 17.7 percent had one chronic condition, 422,000 or 14.8 percent had two to three chronic conditions, 154,000 or 5.4 percent had four to six chronic conditions, and 20,000 or 0.7 percent had seven to 13 conditions.
Data indicated that among the cohort, 9.6 percent had medical debt in collections, 8.3 percent had nonmedical debt in collections, 16.3 percent had delinquent debt, 19.3 percent had a low credit score, and 0.6 percent had a recent bankruptcy.
Among individuals with zero versus seven to 13 chronic conditions, the predicted probability of having:
- Any medical debt in collections was 7.6 percent versus 32 percent.
- Nonmedical debt in collections was 7.2 percent versus 24 percent.
- Any delinquent debt was 14 percent versus 43 percent.
- A low credit score was 17 percent versus 47 percent.
- A recent bankruptcy was 0.4 percent versus 1.7 percent.
The cross-sectional study demonstrated an increased likelihood of multiple adverse financial outcomes and an increasing debt burden as the number of chronic diagnoses increased.