Financial stress causing health problems

One in five adults aged 45 and older are suffering health problems due to financial stress, according to a new survey by AARP, the Milwaukee Business Journal reported on Jan. 2, 2009.

According to the article, the survey found:

• 20 percent of people aged 45 and older reported health problems due to financial stress;
• About 22 percent have delayed seeing a doctor due to cost;
• 16 percent had to use retirement savings or other savings to pay for medical care;
• 21 percent have cut back on other expenses in order to afford their medical care;
• One in six, 16 percent, are not confident they will be able to afford health care in the coming year.

The survey also found health problems due to financial stress is having a greater affect on those between the ages of 45 to 64 than on those ages 65 and older.

Over the last five years, health insurance premiums for families have increased by 65 percent, AARP found. The average cost of health insurance for an American family now exceeds the yearly income of a minimum wage worker.

Insurance premiums have increased 119 percent from 1999 to 2008, while workers’ earnings have risen just 29 percent, the Kaiser Family Foundation reports.

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