Abstract
Research has clearly documented that unaffordable medical bills and resulting medical debt affect large portions
of the U.S. population, including a significant portion of those with health insurance. Previous analyses of data
from the 2007 Health Insurance Survey of Farm and Ranch Operators showed that although the vast majority of
respondents had health insurance, one in five had outstanding debt that resulted from medical bills and one in
four reported that health care expenses contributed to their financial problems. However, these analyses did not
include data gathered in the survey about dental insurance coverage and out-of-pocket costs that resulted from
getting dental care.