Bankruptcies Caused by Illness or Medical Debts

• More than half of personal bankruptcies are caused by illness or medical debts.
  
  • The impact of medical bills has been widely reported, such as this one example:
    
    • “One study, conducted by Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler of Harvard Medical School and published this month in Health Affairs, found that half of all bankruptcies, involving 700,000 American households and affecting more than 2 million people annually, are attributable to illness or medical debt. They also found such bankruptcies increased 2,200 percent between 1981 and 2001.”
      
    • “The other study, still unpublished, by Jennifer Edwards of the New York-based Commonwealth Fund, a research and policy think tank, found that 29 million Americans – 14 percent of all adults – are in serious medical debt, which means they have put large medical bills on their credit cards, taken out second mortgages on their homes or are in a payment plan with their hospital or other provider.”
  • The full report:
    • Boston Globe report [pdf] by Judy Foreman on 22 February 2005