Fifty-seven percent of adults in the United States have received a surprise medical bill for services they thought would be covered by their insurance, according to a new survey from NORC at the University of Chicago. For 35 percent of adults, that surprise bill was for imaging services.
More than 1,000 adults participated in the poll in August 2018. The most common surprise bills were for physician services (53 percent of respondents). Other commonly received surprise bills were for laboratory tests (51 percent) hospital or healthcare facility charges (43 percent) and prescription drugs (29 percent).
“Most Americans have been surprised by medical bills that they expected would be covered by their insurance,” Caroline Pearson, senior fellow at NORC at the University of Chicago, said in a prepared statement. “This suggests that consumers may have difficulty understanding their insurance benefits or knowing which providers are included in their plan’s network.”
Fifty-eight percent of respondents said insurance companies are “very responsible” for surprise medical bills. In addition, 45 percent said hospitals are very responsible, and 24 percent said doctors are very responsible.
“While consumers report that physician services are the most common source of their surprise bills, they are most likely to blame insurers for those bills,” Michelle Strollo, vice president at NORC at the University of Chicago, said in the same statement.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.