Financial hardships a reality for some after surgery

Editor's Note

Surgical procedures can cause substantial financial hardship for working-aged individuals in the US, particularly those with private insurance or who are uninsured. In contrast, Medicaid enrollees were protected against increases in financial hardship after surgical procedures, according to an original investigation in JAMA published online November 19.

These findings come from a retrospective cohort study of responses to the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) from 2014 to 2021. MEPS is a nationally representative survey of noninstitutionalized US civilians. Investigators sought to understand the association between surgical procedures and financial hardship among working-aged adults in the US. Other study points were to compare changes in financial hardship after elective vs emergency surgery, and to examine variation by payer and income, per the research article.

Among those surveyed, 37.9% reported financial hardship after surgical procedures. Additionally, surgical procedures were associated with an 8-fold increase in annual out-of-pocket spending, with the greatest increases among emergency surgery patients and those privately insured or uninsured. In contrast, they found that Medicaid enrollees were protected against increases in financial hardship after surgical procedures.

The investigators concluded in the published article that financial hardship attributable to surgical procedures is not well understood at the national level. They suggested that policies restricting Medicaid eligibility may increase financial hardship among working-aged surgical patients.