Medical debt in the U.S.

Statistics report on medical debt in the U.S.

Medical debt in the U.S.

This report provides some of the most important facts and figures concerning medical debt in the United States. Although the United States is one of the richest and most developed countries in the world its citizens pay more for health services than other developed countries and millions of people in the U.S. do not have healh insurance. Such conditions lead to millions of people receiving medical bills that they cannot afford to pay. This report gives a general overview of this problem. It contains a short chapter on health insurance in the United States before presenting figures and breakdowns concerning those who have medical debt, sources of such debt, amounts owed, and incidences of surprise medical bills.

Table of contents

Overview

4
  • Premium Statistic Share of aggregate total medical debt in the U.S. 2023, by amount owed
  • Basic Statistic Percentage of U.S. adults with medical debt as of 2021
  • Basic Statistic Percentage of U.S. adults with medical debt as of 2021, by generation
  • Premium Statistic Sources of medical debt among U.S. adults as of 2022

Medical debt demography

6
  • Basic Statistic Share of adults in the United States who have medical debt 2022, by gender
  • Premium Statistic Share of adults in the United States who have medical debt 2022, by ethnicity
  • Basic Statistic Share of adults in the United States who have medical debt 2022, by income
  • Premium Statistic Share of adults in the United States who have medical debt 2022, by region
  • Premium Statistic People who currently have or had in the past health care debt in the U.S. in 2022
  • Premium Statistic People who currently have or had in the past health care debt in the U.S. 2022

Medical debt and health coverage

4
  • Premium Statistic Medical debt owed by U.S. adults in 2023, by insurance type
  • Premium Statistic Medical bill or debt problem among U.S. adults in 2022, by insurance coverage
  • Premium Statistic Share of adults in the United States who have medical debt 2022, by insurance status
  • Premium Statistic Medical debt owed by U.S. adults in 2022, by insurance coverage

Medical debt hardships

6
  • Premium Statistic Share of healthcare debt-related barriers to accessing care in the U.S. in 2022
  • Basic Statistic U.S. adults concerned that a health event could lead to bankruptcy 2019-2020, by age
  • Premium Statistic Types of hardships people with health care debt endured in the U.S. in 2023
  • Basic Statistic Problem paying medical bills in select high-income countries 2020 by income
  • Basic Statistic US knowledge of deaths due to inability to pay for medical treatment in 2019, by race
  • Basic Statistic Sacrifices in order to pay medical bills among U.S. workers with ESI in 2018

Ability to repay medical debt

5
  • Premium Statistic Type of debts currently owed due to medical bills in the U.S. in 2022
  • Premium Statistic Time expected to take to pay off medical debt in the U.S. in 2022, by ethnicity
  • Basic Statistic Share of U.S. adults who had successfully negotiated their medical debt as of 2021
  • Basic Statistic Share of U.S. adults unable to repay medical debt within the next year, 2020, by race
  • Basic Statistic U.S. adults unable to repay medical debt within the next year, 2020, by income

Past-due medical debt

4
  • Premium Statistic Amount of past-due medical debt among adults in the U.S. in 2022, by source of debt
  • Premium Statistic Adults with past-due medical debt in the United States in 2022, by poverty level
  • Premium Statistic Sources of past-due medical debt among adults in the U.S. in 2022
  • Premium Statistic Types of measures hospitals took to recover medical debt from American adults in 2022

Unexpected and unaffordable costs

5
  • Premium Statistic Type of health services that led to surprise bills in the U.S. in 2022
  • Basic Statistic Share of US adults who received surprise medical bill since January 2022, by gender
  • Basic Statistic U.S. adults who have received surprise medical bill since January 2022, by age
  • Premium Statistic Share of Americans received a surprise medical bill in U.S. 2022, by ethnicity
  • Basic Statistic Share of US adults who received out-of-network surprise medical bill 2022, by income

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