Relationship between payment problems and health: A nation‐wide register study in Norway

Previous studies have found a solid correlation between payment problems and health, and a large body of literature has recognised the impact of debt burden on ill health. However, few have looked at the reversed causality—the impact of health on over‐indebtedness and payment problems. In this artic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociology of health & illness 2024-09, Vol.46 (7), p.1364-1399
Main Authors: Bakkeli, Nan Zou, Drange, Ida
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Causality
Debt
debt enforcement
Debt restructuring
debt settlement
Delayed
Enforcement
Female
Financial Stress
Health indicators
Health Status
Humans
inequality
Male
Mental disorders
Mental Disorders - economics
Mental Disorders - epidemiology
Mental health
Mental health services
Middle Aged
Mortgages
Norway
payment problems
Registries
somatic health
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Summary:Previous studies have found a solid correlation between payment problems and health, and a large body of literature has recognised the impact of debt burden on ill health. However, few have looked at the reversed causality—the impact of health on over‐indebtedness and payment problems. In this article, we investigate whether or not a person with mental and physical health challenges is more likely to experience debt enforcement, and we take a step further to explore the role of health status on receiving debt settlement for those with severe payment problems. The article uses register data from Statistics Norway, the Norwegian Patient Registry and the Mortgages Registry from 2009 to 2018. When using conditional logistic models and fixed‐effects Poisson regressions with a one‐year lagged effect, we find that mental disorders significantly contribute to individuals’ financial strains, while physical health does not play a substantial role. When integrating the models with dynamic health effects, all health indicators turned out to have substantial impacts, indicating an extended delayed physical health effect on financial outcomes. Poor health leads to increased payment problems, yet individuals facing health challenges have a lower likelihood of receiving necessary assistance in debt settlement. These findings emphasise the need for tailored services to address the financial challenges of debtors with diverse health conditions.
ISSN:0141-9889
1467-9566
1467-9566
DOI:10.1111/1467-9566.13755