Nearly one in 12 adults, 20 million people, owe medical debt in the United States.
Millions of people across the country are grappling with medical debt, according to a recent report from Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, which found that 20 million people owe medical debt and 14 million of them owe over $1,000.
For the brief, researchers analyzed data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to gain insights into the number of adults with medical debt over $250. Despite over 90 percent of Americans having some form of health insurance, the findings show that medical debt is a persistent problem, according to the research team.
Here are key findings included in the report:
- Americans owe at least $220 billion in medical debt.
- Approximately 14 million people owe over $1,000 in medical debt, and about three million owe more than $10,000.
- Individuals with poor health and those with a disability are more likely to have medical debt. Twenty percent of the adults who reported medical debt also reported poor health, and 13 percent of those with medical debt also reported a disability.
- Middle-aged adults and Black adults reported more medical debt. Of the adults who reported medical debt, 21 percent were between ages 35-64 and 13 percent were Black.
- Females (nine percent) were more likely to have medical debt compared to males (seven percent).
- Adults with low-to-middle income were more likely to have medical debt. Eleven percent of adults with income below 199 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) reported medical debt, and 10 percent of adults with incomes between 200 to 399 percent FPL had medical debt.
- Those without health insurance were also more likely to report medical debt. Of adults with medical debt, 14 percent were uninsured for part of the year, and 11 percent were uninsured for the whole year.
- Individuals living in rural areas (11 percent) and in the South (10 percent) were more likely to report medical debt.
“The fact that medical debt is a struggle even among households with health insurance and middle incomes indicates that simply expanding coverage will not erase the financial burden caused by high cost-sharing amounts and high prices for medical services and prescription drugs,” researchers wrote.