Further sad economic news that will get even worse..

More deflating news. The NY Times reports on how unpaid medical bills are creating more of a strain for families, according to a new study from the Center for Studying Health System Change.

The study shows a striking increase in the number of families with medical debt. Here are the highlights:

• 57 million Americans were in families that had problems paying medical bills last year — a 33% increase from five years ago;
• 75% of people with medical debt *had* health insurance;
• 20% of those with medical bill problems considered filing bankruptcy. About 4% followed through with it (2.2 million Americans).

This study comes out as we see that health care premiums continue to outpace our stagnant wages. Health care, sadly, is becoming a luxury.