The latest study dove deeper into the causes of this debt. Among the findings:

U.S. households lost $2,300 in median income between 2010 and 2013 while their health-care expenses increased by $1,814.
Medical debt is the largest category of consumer debt in collections, with 20 percent of U.S. adults likely to be contacted by a debt collection agency about medical debt in 2014.
63 percent of U.S. adults surveyed have received medical bills that cost more than they expected.
Data from across all Medicare Compliance Reviews of U.S. hospitals conducted by the Office of the Inspector General in 2013 revealed "rampant billing errors led to an average medical bill overcharge of 26 percent."
For the same inpatient treatment, "one hospital can charge more than 50 times as much as another hospital. Furthermore, for the 100 most frequent inpatient procedures covered by Medicare, there is an average of 25 times difference between lowest and highest charges."
73 percent of adults say if they knew the cost of medical care before receiving a treatment, they could make better health decisions.

"The system Americans trust for their medical care is not very trustworthy when it comes to providing price transparency for procedures and error-free billing," said Christina LaMontagne, author of the study and General Manager of NerdWallet Health. "Many Americans think they are getting the best care in the world, and yet the American household is more indebted to the medical system than ever before."

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Diving deeper into causes of medical debt

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