Analysis examines effects of COVID-19 on people’s finances

Thanks to data from two Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan-sponsored Collaborative Quality Initiatives — the Michigan Value Collaborative, or MVC, and the Michigan Social Health Interventions to Eliminate Disparities, known as MSHIELD — we have a clearer picture of how COVID-19 affected people financially.

The article “Patient adverse financial outcomes before and after COVID-19 infection,” in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, is the first analysis to examine the effect of COVID‐19 infection — with or without hospitalization — on credit outcomes in the United States.

Using credit report data from 132,109 commercially insured COVID‐19 survivors, adverse financial outcomes were significantly more common among individuals after COVID‐19 infection compared with individuals before COVID‐19 infection. This change was larger in magnitude for people who were hospitalized for COVID‐19 (5 to 8 percentage point increases) than for individuals who weren’t hospitalized (1 to 3 percentage point increases).

To see the article, click here.

To learn more about MSHIELD, visit michiganshield.org.* To learn more about MVC, go to michiganvalue.org.* For more information on the CQIs and other Value Partnerships programs, visit valuepartnerships.com.

*Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network don’t own or control this website.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network are nonprofit corporations and independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.