More than one-quarter cited illness
or injury as a specific reason for bankruptcy;
a similar number reported uncovered
medical bills exceeding $1,000. Some debtors
cited more than one medical contributor.
Nearly half (46.2 percent) (95 percent confidence
interval = 43.5, 48.9) of debtors met at
least one of our criteria for “major medical
bankruptcy.” Slightly more than half (54.5 percent)
(95 percent CI = 51.8, 57.2) met criteria
for “any medical bankruptcy.”
A lapse in health insurance coverage during
the two years before filingwas a strong predictor
of a medical cause of bankruptcy (Exhibit
3). Nearly four-tenths (38.4 percent) of debtors
who had a “major medical bankruptcy”
had experienced a lapse, compared with 27.1
percent of debtors with no medical cause (p <
.0001). Surprisingly, medical debtors were no
less likely than other debtors to have coverage
at the time of filing.