The statistics on medically-related bankruptcy are usually flawed, and overstate the extent of this problem. They usually assume that if you owed more than $(small amount) in healthcare debt, (exact amount varies by study,) the bankruptcy was caused by this debt. Some of the better studies use healthcare debt as % of total debt accumulated in year(s) before bankruptcy, and come out with much lower figures.[1]
It makes sense that if you owe a lot of money, some of it would be to a sector which makes up a large part of the economy, and an even larger part of consumer spending. To put it another way, if you measured the impact of car debt the same way that most studies measure the impact of healthcare debt, you would see that cars cause many, if not most bankruptcies (which is an absurd result, as most people can easily liquidate a car and move to a lower cost option).
[1] will get a citation when I have a little more time
It makes sense that if you owe a lot of money, some of it would be to a sector which makes up a large part of the economy, and an even larger part of consumer spending. To put it another way, if you measured the impact of car debt the same way that most studies measure the impact of healthcare debt, you would see that cars cause many, if not most bankruptcies (which is an absurd result, as most people can easily liquidate a car and move to a lower cost option).
[1] will get a citation when I have a little more time