"This year, [2009] an estimated 1.5 million Americans will declare bankruptcy. Many people may chalk up that misfortune to overspending or a lavish lifestyle, but a new study suggests that more than 60 percent of people who go bankrupt are actually capsized by medical bills.
Bankruptcies due to medical bills increased by nearly 50 percent in a six-year period, from 46 percent in 2001 to 62 percent in 2007, and most of those who filed for bankruptcy were middle-class, well-educated homeowners, according to a report that will be published in the August issue of The American Journal of Medicine. . . ." via Reddit: Medical bills prompt more than 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies - CNN
Read the Testimony of Dr. Woolhndler from July, 28, 2009, before the Subcommittee on Administrative and Commercial Law - House Judiciary Committee