Medical Debt Trigger Other Consequences

The economic and personal impact of medical debt can be devastating.  Most of those interviewed in the Kaiser study ended up declaring bankruptcy as a direct result of high medical bills.  Others depleted retirement or college savings, lost homes to foreclosure or did without basics such as home heat.  Almost all suffered damage to their credit rating.  Some eventually bounced back from medical debt prob-lems while others permanently reduced their standard of living.  Some people experienced barriers to care.  Nearly all expressed a strong ethic to pay their bills and deep regret, even shame, to be in medical debt.

The Kaiser Family Foundation reported:

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