Objective: To estimate the prevalence of medical debt among traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal cord injury (SCI) patients who discharged their debts through bankruptcy.
Design: A cross-sectional comparison of bankruptcy filings of injured versus randomly selected bankruptcy petitioners.
Setting: Patients hospitalized with SCI or TBI (1996-2002) and personal bankruptcy petitioners (2001-2004) in western Washington State.
Participants: Subjects (N=186) who filed for bankruptcy, comprised of 93 patients with previous SCI or TBI and 93 randomly selected bankruptcy petitioners.
Interventions: Not applicable.
Main outcome measures: Medical and nonmedical debt, assets, income, expenses, and employment recorded in the bankruptcy petition.
Results: Five percent of randomly selected petitioners and 26% of petitioners with TBI or SCI had substantial medical debt (debt that accounted for more than 20% of all unsecured debts). SCI and TBI petitioners had fewer assets and were more likely to be receiving government income assistance at the time of bankruptcy than controls. SCI and TBI patients with a higher blood alcohol content at injury were more likely to have substantial medical debts (odds ratio=2.70; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-7.00).
Conclusions: Medical debt plays an important role in some bankruptcies after TBI or SCI. We discuss policy options for reducing financial distress after serious injury.