Past Due Medical Debt among Nonelderly Adults, 2012–15 (study)Southerners More Likely to Be Saddled with Medical Debt, Study Shows (article)
... According to the report, of the top 10 states with medical debt, eight are located in the South: Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Georgia.
The remaining two top 10 states are in the Midwest: Indiana and Missouri.
Conversely, the states found to have the lowest prevalence of past-due debts were spread out geographically. That list includes three Northeast states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York); one in the Midwest (Minnesota); four in the West (California, Utah, Nevada, Hawaii); and then there's D.C. and Maryland, which most people would refer to as Mid-Atlantic, but which are technically in the South census region....
Worst: all red states except for purple WV.
Best: all blue states except for red UT.
Of course.
SC - 5th worst.
NC - 11th worst.
FL - 12th worst.
TN - 14th worst.