This study examined the relationship between a diagnosis of cancer and the likelihood of having any out-of-pocket costs (OOPC) and medical debt, and the amounts of OOPC and medical debt, at the household level. We used the 2013 Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a continuous, representative panel survey that collects demographic, economic, and social data in the United States. The analytic sample included head of households and their spouse (if married), 18–64 years old. Two-part models were used. The first part consisted of logistic regression models and the second part consisted of generalized linear models with logarithmic link and a gamma distribution. Logistic regression results showed odds of 2.13 (CI: 1.27, 3.57, p < 0.01) for any OOPC and odds of 1.55 (CI: 0.93, 2.58, p < 0.1) for any medical debt for households in which either the head or spouse (if married) reported a diagnosis of cancer compared to those that did not report a diagnosis of cancer. Likewise, results from the second part of the model for households with a positive amount of OOPC showed an exponentiated coefficient of 1.73 (CI: 1.33, 2.25, p < 0.01) for households in which either the head or spouse (if married) reported a diagnosis of cancer compared to households without a diagnosis of cancer. This study shows that a diagnosis of cancer places a financial burden on families, particularly with all types of debt, in the United States even after controlling for differences between households with a diagnosis of cancer and those without a diagnosis of cancer.

This paper examines the relationship between self-reported health status and medical debt outcomes using data from the 2013 Panel Study of Income Dynamics. There were two outcomes of interest: (a) the likelihood of having any medical debt, which included 4,227 households and (b) the amount of medical debt (medical debt > 0), which included 631 households. The results from the multivariate models showed that fair/poor health status increased the likelihood of having any medical debt by 73% and was associated with an increase in the amount of medical debt among those with medical debt by about 77% (p < .001) compared to those who reported better health. Poor health status appears to impose a financial burden on some households.

This study used data from the Military Health System Data Repository to examine the association between mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) and work functioning such as work duty limitations, hospital emergency room visits and inpatient admissions for active-duty service members (ADSMs). Further, this study assessed the role that common symptoms of mTBI play in work functioning. Multivariate results showed that having a mTBI diagnosis is not a major factor that results in being “released with work duty limitations”. However, findings from these regression models also showed that the interaction of mTBI with cognitive and linguistic symptoms resulted in odds of 3.63 (CI: 1.40–9.36, p < 0.01) for being “released with work duty limitations” and odds of 4.98 (CI: 1.16–21.39, p < 0.05) for having any emergency department visits compared to those with no diagnosis of mTBI and none of these symptoms. Additionally, the interaction of mTBI with sleep disturbance and chronic pain showed odds of 2.72 (CI: 1.31–5.65, p < 0.01) and odds of 11.56 (CI: 2.65–50.44, p < 0.01) for being “released with work duty limitations” compared to those with no diagnosis of TBI and none of these symptoms, respectively. Further research is needed to investigate the association between mTBI and duration of time off work to provide a comprehensive understanding of the effect of mTBI on work functioning in the Military Health System.