BRIEF—Study details financial hardship due to medical costs

A  new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine has found that financial hardship associated with high medical costs is “very common among people in the United States.”

The study estimates more than 100 million people in the USA experience medical financial hardship.

Authored by the American Cancer Society, the analysis found that more than half reported problems with affordability, stress, or delaying care due to high costs, and that patients may delay or forgo needed medical care, potentially undermining the benefits of treatment.