Most Americans have health insurance, but that doesn't ease fears of a medical emergency pushing them to the financial brink, a study shows.
Nearly 97% of the 1,507 Americans surveyed in February by financial services firm JG Wentworth said they had health insurance. Still, a whopping 94.7% of the insured said they still worry about hospital bills. On average, a $4,354 tab would be the financial breaking point for Americans, data showed. Seven in ten Americans said an unexpected medical bill under $10,000 would hamper their ability to cover essential expenses.
To put that in perspective, the average cost to stay just one night in a hospital was $3,297 in 2024, according to nonprofit health policy researcher KFF. The average stay was 5.8 days in 2023, KFF said.
Medical debt is widespread, with Americans owing $220 billion in total, KFF said. In JG Wentworth's poll, 85.1% of respondents said they already had medical debt, with 81.3% owing between $1,000 and $10,000.
"While health insurance is in place to reduce your medical costs, it doesn't eliminate them entirely," a JG Wentworth spokesperson said by email. "Even people with good insurance coverage can face deductibles adding up to thousands of dollars and surprise out-of-network charges from some providers. Insurance can limit the financial impacts of serious medical emergencies, but it doesn't prevent a significant bill from arriving after a routine procedure."
