Americans who become seriously ill often feel confused and helpless, experience major problems with their care or, even if they have health insurance, face the risk of financial ruin. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Lots of Americans who can least afford the additional stress are being left in the dirt by the U.S. health care system, says a new joint study from the Commonwealth Fund, The New York Times and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The goal of the report “is to understand whether our health care system is doing all it can do not just to treat illness but to help people cope with illness.” Exploring such areas as where the system fails to meet people's needs, how it's “adding to already heavy burdens” and whether the most seriously ill can even afford the care provided by the health system, the study found plenty of room for improvement.

Related: Health plans largely neglecting members with chronic conditions

Not just the sickest among us—those with multiple hospitalizations and doctor visits, many for serious illnesses like heart disease, cancer, and stroke—but also adults caring for friends or family members with serious illnesses were polled in the survey, which asked about hospital stays, interactions with health professionals and health insurance companies and experiences paying for care.

The results were not cheering. Initial findings, according to NYT, indicate that Americans who become seriously ill often feel confused and helpless (62 percent), experience major problems with their care (61 percent) or, even if they have health insurance, face the risk of financial ruin (53 percent).

Close to half experience emotional or psychological problems, while a third report symptoms of social isolation—which can weigh on potential recovery from their ills.

Despite improvements in care itself—such as once-a-day pills instead of chemotherapy regimens, treatments and cures for diseases once untreatable and technological improvements that improve quality of life for the seriously disabled—American health care also “places unexpected and unnecessary burdens on the sick,” making people struggle to get the care they need and have to chase appropriate services across the system because of fragmentation and lack of coordination of treatments and services. And that's tough when they're already suffering from the original ailment.

Then there's the financial burden borne by many who find themselves mired in long-term financial problems, such as not being able to pay for food, heat or housing and having to fight off collection agencies.

The study suggests steps to be taken to improve the way health care functions, but under the current system—“which results from the choices made by policymakers, practitioners, payers, and others”—it says that the sick end up with additional burdens beyond illness.

Read more:

• 5 steps to better care at lower costs for your sickest employees
• Expanding access to health care
• Chronic conditions: How to help pick the right health plan for employees