A third of privately insured adults have medical debt, study finds

Got medical debt? You’re not alone.

One out of three working-age adults with private insurance said they were paying off medical bills in a new survey released on Sept. 17 by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health policy research group.

Past studies have found that the rising uninsured population is more likely to have medical debt than the insured. But mounting healthcare costs have strained even people with insurance.

“Medical debt is often viewed as a problem limited to people who are uninsured or who face a major medical emergency. But this survey shows that it is also widespread among Americans with private insurance,” Sara Collins, a study coauthor and the Commonwealth Fund’s senior scholar and VP for healthcare coverage and access and tracking health system performance, said in a press release.

The nitty gritty. For the study, conducted in 2025, researchers at the Commonwealth Fund interviewed 4,121 adults ages 19 to 64 who had private coverage through an employer, the Affordable Care Act marketplace, or the individual insurance market, representing an estimated 115.2 million adults.

Hospital care was the most common contributor, with 64% of those with medical debt saying that’s where their debt came from. Thirty-nine percent also attributed it to an ongoing chronic condition.

Many people’s debt reached thousands of dollars. Of the people paying off medical debt over time, 46% owed $2,000 or more. A 2024 analysis of federal data by Peterson-KFF estimated that 20 million US adults owed at least $220 billion to the healthcare system. .

The big picture. Past research has found medical debt makes patients more likely to delay necessary healthcare. It can also impact credit scores. About 1 in 4 adults surveyed by the Commonwealth Fund said their debt had been reported to a credit rating agency.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule in January 2025 that would have banned medical debt from affecting lending decisions, but the rule was overturned by a judge in July 2025.

In the absence of federal regulation, some states and credit reporting agencies have stepped in. Three major credit reporting agencies stopped counting medical debt under $500 in 2023. Sixteen states have prohibited or restricted medical debt’s inclusion in credit reports as of January 2026.

Hospitals, for their part, typically have financial assistance programs to help patients who can’t afford their medical care. Nonprofit hospitals are required to offer financial assistance to patients who can’t pay, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

But these programs sometimes have hidden obstacles and red tape, such as lengthy applications and inconsistent eligibility standards.