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While most say health care costs reasonable, many Ohioans also cope with debt

by Sarah Jane Tribble

A new poll of adults in Ohio found that many worry about health care costs.

About 60 percent of Ohioans say the amount they personally pay for health care is “reasonable.”   But at the same time, nearly 3 in 10 Ohioans say health care costs have caused serious financial problems, leading them to set up payment plans with hospitals or doctors. 

Robert Blendon with Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health says that people's perception about the Affordable Care Act and how it has affected their wallets will play a factor in the upcoming election. 

"As with anything else it may or may not be related to the ACA but it will be in politics related to the ACA and a considerable number of people in Ohio are worried about their future costs,” Blendon says. It's not even just today, they are worried about tomorrow."

The findings are part of a national survey of adults in seven states conducted by Harvard, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and NPR.