Commonwealth Fund report highlights women's healthcare financial burden

Health insurance did less and less to protect the finances of women as the last decade progressed, the Commonwealth Fund reports.

By 2010, nearly one out of five (18%) of insured women paid enough for medical care out of pocket that they could qualify as underinsured, says a newly released report by the Washington health policy outfit.

That's up from 16% in 2007 and 12% in 2003. The label of underinsured is awarded to households that spend at least 10% of their income on healthcare (5% for low-income families) or have deductibles that amount to at least 5% of income.

Cost stopped some women from seeking care or filing a prescription at a rate much higher than for women in 10 other countries, the report says. Thirty percent of U.S. women with a medical problem said cost prevented them from seeking out a doctor in 2010. U.S. women were also more likely to spend at least $1,000 from their own budget on medical care that year than women in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

And as my colleague Jessica Zigmond reported, one in four women in the United States struggled with medical bills in 2010, a percentage significantly greater than Australia (13%), the next-highest country.

For hospitals, households that struggle to pay can mean more write offs for financial assistance or unpaid bills. Exempla Lutheran Medical Center, Wheat Ridge, Colo., listed more un- and underinsured patients among the reasons for job cuts last August.

You can follow Melanie Evans on Twitter: @MHmevans.