A new Commonwealth Fund survey reveals that close to half (45%) of insured, working-age adults in the United States have received a medical bill or copayment in the past year for a service they thought should have been covered by their insurance. Nearly one in five (17%) were denied coverage by their insurer for a doctor-recommended service. Among those who reported billing errors or coverage denials, fewer than half challenged them, mostly because they weren’t aware they had the right to do so.
The survey brief, Unforeseen Health Care Bills and Coverage Denials by Health Insurers in the U.S., looks at how frequently insured, working-age adults are denied care by insurers, how often they are billed for services they believed were covered, and their experiences challenging such bills or care denials. For the first time, findings are broken down by public and private insurance types, race and ethnicity, and income levels.