Medical Bankruptcy: Still Common Despite the Affordable Care Act

Abstract

Myriad anecdotes—of a Nobel laureate who sold his medal to pay medical bills, or the more than 250 000 GoFundMe medical campaigns last year—attest to the financial toll of illness on American families. National surveys confirm that medical bills frequently cause financial hardship, and the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported that they were by far the most common cause of unpaid bills sent to collection agencies in 2014, accounting for more than half of all such debts.