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Even Americans who are covered by health insurance<\/a> can emerge from medical emergencies with long-lasting financial scars<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a study published this month in the journal Health Affairs<\/a>, researchers found that 18 months after being hospitalized for a traumatic injury \u2014 such as a car accident or fall \u2014 the share of patients with medical debt in collections rose 5.2 percentage points, or a 24% relative increase, compared with before that medical emergency. Over that same period post-injury, the average balance in collections rose by $290, and 1 in 10 indebted patients owed more than $4,480. <\/p>\n Bankruptcy filings also increased by 3.2 per 1,000 patients \u2014 a 6% relative rise \u2014 about 15 months after injury, the researchers found.<\/p>\n “This work grew out of my clinical experience as a trauma surgeon and seeing acutely injured\u00a0patients shouting at us\u00a0to stop care because they’re worried about the bill,” said co-author Dr. John Scott, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Washington. <\/p>\n The researchers studied nearly 13,000 trauma patients’ credit reports from one year before to 18 months after they were hospitalized for an injury. Credit report data spanned 2018-2021. Nearly all the patients in the cohort \u2014 or 98% \u2014 had health insurance coverage.<\/p>\n “Insurance reduces the risk of financial catastrophe, but the way private plans are currently designed still leaves many people heavily exposed when something serious happens,” Scott said. <\/p>\n Read more CNBC personal finance coverage<\/p>\n The study’s findings come at a time when health costs<\/a> are a strain for many Americans, even among broader affordability worries. According to a\u00a0recent poll by KFF<\/a>, a nonpartisan health policy research group, two-thirds of Americans surveyed, or 66%, are worried about\u00a0paying for health care<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 more than other household necessities such as utilities, food and groceries, housing and rent. <\/p>\n Legislators let the enhanced subsidies on the Affordable Care Act marketplace expire<\/a> at the end of 2025, which is expected to create a surge of uninsured Americans and others with higher deductibles before their health coverage kicks in. <\/p>\n “If people are pushed into thinner coverage or out of coverage entirely, those numbers will only get worse,” Scott said of the financial impact of sustaining an injury.<\/p>\n