Both insured and uninsured residents of Ohio and Florida are reducing their health care spending and are having difficulty paying medical bills, according to a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, NPR and Harvard School of Public Health, NPR's "All Things Considered" reports. According to the survey, one in four residents of the two states said they are having trouble paying for medical bills. In addition, one in four people in Ohio and one in five in Florida are being pursued by collection agencies, with unpaid medical bills being the most common reason.

Residents also are limiting their medical care to cope with tight budgets, the survey indicates. According to the survey, 30% of Floridians said they have skipped needed medical care and 41% said they have delayed dental care in the last year because of the cost.

Ohio residents ranked lowering the cost of health care and health insurance second and Florida residents ranked it third when asked which steps would do a "great deal" to help fix the country's economic problems (Shapiro, "All Things Considered," NPR, 7/23).

More information on the survey is available online.

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.