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GUEST: Mark Rukavina, Director of the Access Project

“Borrowing to Stay Healthy: How Credit Card Debt is Related to Medical Expenses,” is the title of a new report released by Demos and the Access Project. Illustrating the connection between high credit card debt and medical expenses, the report has found that more and more Americans are turning to their credit card to handle rising health care costs. “Borrowing to Stay Healthy,” is based, in part, on a national survey of lowband middle income households with credit card debt. Key findings in the report include the fact that thirty percent of survey respondents reported medical expenses contributed to their debt. As the cost of health insurance continues to outpace inflation and real wages, “Borrowing to Stay Healthy,” offers reform solutions to the problem of health care related credit card debt by suggesting, among other things, the enactment of a borrows security act and differentiating medical debt from consumer debt.

Read the report, “Borrowing to Stay Healthy online at www.demos.org or www.accessproject.org