80+ Latest Medical Billing Statistics Every Healthcare Leader Should Know

Bo Spessard
1 day ago
11 min read

Key Medical Billing Statistics

More than 100 million people in America - 41% of adults - are saddled with medical bills they cannot pay.
People in the United States owe at least $220 billion in medical debt, with approximately 20 million people (nearly 1 in 12 adults) owing medical debt.
Half of U.S. adults (50%) say they would not be able to pay a $500 unexpected medical bill without going into debt, including 19% who could not pay it at all.
Medical problems contributed to 66.5% of all bankruptcies in the United States, with an estimated 530,000 families filing bankruptcy each year linked to illness or medical bills.
An estimated 80% of medical bills in the United States contain at least one error.
Claims adjudication costs healthcare providers an estimated $25.7 billion annually - a 23% increase over the prior year's $19.7 billion - with approximately $18 billion of that amount potentially wasted on claims that should have been paid at the time of submission.
59% of patients prefer a text notification for billing over a phone call or email, up from 45% who preferred text the prior year.

1. General medical bill and medical debt overview

More than 100 million people in America - 41% of adults - are saddled with medical bills they cannot pay.

41% of U.S. adults currently have some form of health care debt due to medical or dental bills, including 24% who say they have medical or dental bills that are past due or that they are unable to pay.

In 2024, 36% of U.S. households had medical debt, 21% had a past-due medical bill, and 23% were paying a medical bill over time to a provider.

People in the United States owe at least $220 billion in medical debt, with approximately 20 million people (nearly 1 in 12 adults) owing medical debt.

An estimated $194 billion in medical debt was in active collection in the United States in 2024.

12% of U.S. adults - roughly 31 million Americans - borrowed an estimated total of $74 billion in 2024 to pay for healthcare.

A majority of Americans (58%) say they are concerned that a major health event could lead to personal medical debt, including 28% who say they are "very concerned."

Approximately 14 million people (6% of adults) in the U.S. owe over $1,000 in medical debt and about 3 million people (1% of adults) owe medical debt of more than $10,000.

About 1 in 4 adults with health care debt (1 in 10 adults overall) owes at least $5,000, and about 1 in 8 with debt owe $10,000 or more (1 in 20 adults overall).

At the start of 2026, 66% of U.S. adults say they are at least somewhat worried about affording the cost of health care - more than the shares worried about food and groceries (57%), utilities (57%), or housing costs (52%).

Black Americans are far more likely to report medical debt (13%) compared to White Americans (8%) and Asian Americans (3%).

Black adults (23%) and Hispanic adults (16%) were substantially more likely to report borrowing money for healthcare than White adults (9%).

2. Medical bill costs and affordability

U.S. health care spending grew 7.2% in 2024, reaching $5.3 trillion, or $15,474 per person, and accounted for 18.0% of Gross Domestic Product.

Out-of-pocket health spending by Americans grew 5.9% to $556.6 billion in 2024, accounting for 11% of total national health expenditures.

Out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures averaged $1,632 per capita in 2024, not including the amount individuals contribute toward health insurance premiums.

The average cost of an emergency room visit in the United States was approximately $2,715 in 2025.

The average cost of a hospital stay in the United States was $3,130 per day in 2023 - up from $1,101 per day in 1999, a roughly 184% increase.

The estimated total cost of healthcare for a family of four covered by a typical employer-sponsored health plan was $32,066 in 2024.

Nearly half (44%) of U.S. adults say it is difficult to afford their health care costs, with 82% of uninsured adults under 65 reporting difficulty, compared to 42% of those with health insurance.

Half of U.S. adults (50%) say they would not be able to pay a $500 unexpected medical bill without going into debt, including 19% who could not pay it at all.

Only 22% of consumers always know how much they owe for a provider visit beforehand.

57% of consumers are concerned about their ability to pay a medical bill of $1,000 or less.

Only 21.1% of U.S. hospitals were in full compliance with federal price transparency rules as of November 2024, a decline from 34.5% earlier that year.

3. Surprise medical bills and the No Surprises Act

The No Surprises Act prevented more than 10 million surprise medical bills during the first nine months of 2023, protecting roughly 1 million patients per month from unexpected out-of-network charges.

Before the No Surprises Act, surprise billing occurred in 20% of inpatient admissions originating in the emergency department, 14% of outpatient emergency department visits, and 9% of elective inpatient admissions.

Prior to the No Surprises Act, surprise bills averaged more than $1,200 for anesthesia, $2,600 for surgical assistants, and $750 for childbirth, and more than half of U.S. consumers reported having received a medical bill that came as a surprise.

4. Medical debt collections and credit reporting

$88 billion in medical bills were on consumer credit reports as of June 2021, with medical collections tradelines appearing on 43 million credit reports.

As of 2021, medical debts constituted 58% of all debts reported in collection on credit reports - more than any other type of consumer debt.

In April 2023, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion jointly removed medical collection debt under $500 from U.S. consumer credit reports, eliminating nearly 70% of total medical collection debt tradelines that had been reported.

Despite credit bureau changes, 15 million Americans still had medical bills on their credit reports as of April 2024, collectively owing more than $49 billion in outstanding medical debt in collections - disproportionately concentrated in the South and low-income communities.

As of August 2024, 4.1% of consumers had medical debt in collections on their credit records (approximately 9.7 million consumers), down from about 27 million consumers in August 2022 before the removal of medical collections under $500.

Consumers experience an average 25-point increase in their credit score in the first quarter after their last medical collection is removed from their credit report.

From August 2022 to August 2023, consumers who had medical debt collections removed experienced an average credit score increase from 585 to 615 points (a 30-point gain), moving them from subprime to near-prime levels.

In January 2025, a federal rule was finalized to ban medical debt from credit reports, which would have erased $49 billion in medical bills for 15 million Americans; however, a federal judge vacated this rule in July 2025 after plaintiffs jointly requested its withdrawal.

As of mid-2025, 15 states have passed their own laws to ban or restrict the reporting of medical debt on credit reports - including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.

5. Impact of medical bills on patients

About 1 in 6 U.S. adults (17%) reported delaying or going without medical care, prescription drugs, or mental health care due to cost in 2024.

36% of adults say they have skipped or postponed getting needed health care in the past 12 months because of cost, with 75% of uninsured adults saying they have done so.

Medical problems contributed to 66.5% of all bankruptcies in the United States, with an estimated 530,000 families filing bankruptcy each year linked to illness or medical bills.

Only 63% of adults said they would cover a hypothetical $400 emergency expense exclusively using cash or its equivalent - unchanged from 2022 and 2023.

Among adults with health care debt, 63% cut back spending on food, clothing, and basic household items; 48% used up all or most of their savings; and 41% increased their credit card debt as a result of their medical bills.

Among adults with current depression and medical debt, 36.9% delayed mental health care and 38% did not seek care at all - more than double the rates for those with depression but no medical debt (17.4% and 17.2%, respectively).

57% of adults with household incomes under $40,000 reported current debt due to medical or dental bills.

Among single-person privately-insured households, 32% did not have over $2,000 in savings - meaning they lacked sufficient liquid assets to cover a typical deductible - and 16% of privately-insured adults said they would need to take on credit card debt to meet an unexpected $400 expense.

6. Insurance and coverage gaps driving medical bills

The average annual premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance in 2025 are $9,325 for single coverage and $26,993 for family coverage, with family premiums rising 6% or more for 3 consecutive years - the first time that has happened in 2 decades.

Workers contributed an average of $6,850 annually toward the cost of family coverage in 2025; on average, workers pay 16% of the premium for single coverage and 26% for family coverage.

The average deductible for single coverage among workers with a general annual deductible was $1,886 in 2025, and 34% of covered workers face a deductible of $2,000 or more for single coverage.

The average annual deductible for employer-sponsored single coverage health insurance rose from $584 in 2006 to $1,790 in 2024, representing a 206% increase over 18 years.

In 2024, the median annual deductible for private industry workers participating in high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) was $2,750, and the availability of HDHPs rose from 38% in 2015 to 50% in 2024.

In 2025, 33% of covered workers were enrolled in a high-deductible health plan with a savings option.

Nearly 1 in 4 (23%) working-age adults with health insurance are underinsured - meaning their plans have out-of-pocket costs so high that they make care difficult to afford - with 66% of the underinsured covered through employer-sponsored plans.

Among underinsured adults, 57% reported forgoing needed care because of cost, and 44% said they carry medical debt.

9% of working-age adults were uninsured and 12% had a gap in coverage during the previous year, while only 56% of working-age adults had continuous, adequate insurance coverage for the full year.

In 2024, 32% of covered workers were enrolled in a plan with a general annual deductible of $2,000 or more for single coverage - a share that has increased from 18% over the past decade.

7. Medical billing errors and claim denials

An estimated 80% of medical bills in the United States contain at least one error.

The average hospital bill over $10,000 contains approximately $1,300 in billing errors.

Insurers of qualified health plans sold on HealthCare.gov denied 19% of in-network claims in 2024 and 37% of out-of-network claims, for a combined average denial rate of 20% of all claims.

Nearly 15% of all medical claims submitted to private payers are initially denied, with denial rates ranging as high as 49% in certain instances.

The initial denial rate on claims in 2024 increased to 11.81%, up from approximately 10.2% just a few years earlier.

41% of healthcare providers reported that at least 1 in 10 of their claims is denied, up from 30% in 2022 and 38% in 2024.

Claims adjudication costs healthcare providers an estimated $25.7 billion annually - a 23% increase over the prior year's $19.7 billion - with approximately $18 billion of that amount potentially wasted on claims that should have been paid at the time of submission.

In fiscal year 2024, the Medicare Fee-for-Service program had an estimated improper payment rate of 7.66%, representing $31.70 billion in improper payments.

45% of insured adults received a medical bill for a service they believed should have been covered by their insurance, and 17% were denied coverage for a doctor-recommended service.

Fewer than 1% of denied claims in ACA marketplace plans were appealed by consumers in 2024, and when appeals were filed, insurers upheld their original denial decision 66% of the time.

Among individuals who contested medical bills, 38% saw their balances reduced or eliminated, and 50% of those who disputed coverage denials were able to get some or all of the denied services approved.

Up to 12% of medical claims are submitted with inaccurate codes, and coding mistakes are cited in approximately 32% of first-submission claim denials.

93% of physicians report that prior authorization delays access to necessary care, practices complete an average of 39 prior authorizations per physician per week, and physicians and staff spend an average of 13 hours per week on the process.

The administrative cost to rework a single denied claim rose from $43.84 in 2022 to $57.23 in 2023 - a 30% increase in one year - with labor accounting for 90% of claims processing expenses.

An estimated 65% of denied claims are never resubmitted by providers, and once denied, providers go through an average of 3 rounds of reviews with insurers before a claim is settled, with each review cycle taking 45 to 60 days.

8. Medical billing technology and patient payment trends

Patient preferences for digital and text communication about bills

59% of patients prefer a text notification for billing over a phone call or email, up from 45% who preferred text the prior year.

51% of patients said a text message reminder would prompt them to pay their bills more quickly, and 36% said they would consider switching healthcare providers if they have a poor experience with billing.

56% of patients prefer digital billing communications like email and text over traditional paper statements, while only 39% still prefer receiving new balance notifications through a traditional paper statement.

7 in 10 patients prefer to receive text messages for appointment confirmations, reminders, instructions, and test results, while fewer than 25% of patients activate an account for their provider's patient portal.

6 in 10 patients want more digital tools to manage their healthcare, while 8 in 10 providers are gearing up to invest in digital patient access tools.

Text messages have a 98% open rate, compared to email's average open rate of approximately 20% for healthcare communications; on average, it takes 90 seconds for someone to respond to a text and 90 minutes to respond to an email.

32% of patients pay their medical bill within 5 minutes of receiving a text notification, compared to 25% who pay within 5 minutes when notified via email and 25% via patient portal.

Payment links included in text messages see 25 times higher click-through rates than the same links sent through email, and 65% of consumers pay after the first text notification alone.

Adding text and email bill notifications to existing mailed statements reduces the average time to payment from 20 days to just 9 days, compared to the 60–120 days typical of paper-only billing.

Digital payment adoption in healthcare

62% of consumers prefer to pay their medical bills online, and there has been a 243% increase in the use of eStatements as the primary method for patient collections from 2016 to 2024.

91% of consumers prefer to pay medical bills electronically, and 80% of consumers are likely to enroll or are already enrolled in eStatements from providers.

70% of consumers receive medical bills through the mail, but only 9% want to pay those bills with paper checks, while 75% of providers still primarily use paper and manual processes for collections.

Patient satisfaction with billing experience

93% of consumers say that the quality of their billing experience is an important factor in whether they'll return to a provider.

72% of consumers under the age of 35 have switched providers, or are willing to do so, for a better healthcare payment experience.

While 90% of patients now receive bills through their preferred channels and 76% say payment is convenient, 30% say the payment options in front of them are unaffordable - including 4 in 10 who earn $100,000 or more.

64% of patients want to be able to customize their experience with their provider as to how they pay their bills or communicate, and over a third are frustrated with communication timeliness and bill explanation.

Mobile payments and provider collection challenges

70% of all patient payments on mobile-optimized platforms are made via mobile devices, and

81% of patients would more actively pursue care if they knew the cost upfront.

Patient collections are the primary revenue concern for providers, increasing 133% from 2011 to 2024, and 71% of providers report that it takes over 30 days to collect payments after a patient encounter.

63% of patients say they would feel more confident about paying for healthcare if offered tailored payment plans, while 32% say paying for healthcare has worsened since last year.

36% of patients said they would consider switching healthcare providers over a poor billing experience.

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