Hospitals are the leading source of medical debt in the U.S., with more than half of adults with medical debt owing money for hospital services, according to an Oct. 6 Urban Institute report funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The report draws on December 2025 data from the institute’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey. The nationally representative survey covers more than 10,000 adults ages 18 and older, who reported debt owed by themselves or family members.
Overall, 26.6% of U.S. adults said they or a family member owed medical debt.
Eight report findings:
- Fifty-two percent of adults with medical debt owe money for hospital services. Other common sources of debt were specialists (41.5%), dental providers (37.6%), general physicians (33.5%) and labs or diagnostic facilities (31.9%).
- Of the survey respondents with medical debt, 53.8% owed $1,000 or more and 15.5% owed $5,000 or more.
- Among adults who owed money to hospitals, 23.2% owed $5,000 or more. Among those who owed only other providers, 7.1% owed that much.
- Insurance offered limited protection for survey respondents. Medical debt was reported by 25.7% of insured adults and 35.2% of uninsured adults.
- In the past year, 35.2% of adults with medical debt were contacted by a collection agency, 21.7% said the debt lowered their credit score and 4.7% faced a lawsuit.
- Rates were highest among adults in fair or poor health (42%), adults with disabilities (41.1%) and those with incomes between 100% and 200% of the federal poverty level (37.8%). Rates were also elevated among Black (37.5%) and Hispanic (34.8%) adults.
- Among adults 65 and older, 17.6% reported medical debt despite near-universal Medicare coverage.
- Michael Karpman, principal research associate at the Urban Institute, said researchers will need to track how the burden changes as policies restricting Medicaid and Marketplace coverage take effect.
