Among the key findings in the report:

Among Medicare-age adults with health care debt, large shares say some of the bills that caused their debt were due to routine health care services such as lab fees and diagnostic tests (49%), dental care (48%) and visits to the doctor (41%).
One in three attribute a portion of their debt to emergency care, and 1 in 4 to prescription drugs. Dental care is one of the leading causes of health care debt among Medicare-age adults, likely because traditional Medicare does not offer coverage for dental-care services.
Nearly 3 in 10 say their household has been contacted by a collection agency in the past five years as a result of medical or dental bills, while one in four say health care debt has negatively affected their credit score.
Three in five Medicare-age adults with health care debt say they or another member of their household have delayed, skipped or sought alternatives to needed health care or prescription medications because of costs in the past year.
Roughly 1 in 10 reports having medical or dental bills that they are paying off over time directly to a provider (12%); put on a credit card and are paying off over time (11%); are past due or unable to be paid (8%); or have debts owed to a bank, collection agency or other lender as a result of loans used to pay off medical or dental bills (7%). A smaller share reports debts owed to family and friends for money borrowed to pay off medical or dental bills (3%).

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Health care debt can force older Americans to make tough decisions