Americans would need to work more than 2½ months to earn enough to cover the cost of a typical hospital stay in the U.S., according to a new report.
The typical U.S. hospital stay lasts nearly five days and costs $16,353 per individual. In order to earn enough money to pay for such a stay, a U.S. worker earning an average hourly wage of $37.62 would need to be on the job for 435 hours −or nearly 11 weeks, according to LendingTree, a financial platform and loan marketplace.
Most U.S. consumers have health insurance through an employer, the Affordable Care Act or government programs such as Medicare or Medicaid. Insurance plans typically cover a large portion of any hospital bill after a person meets their deductible − the amount before most coverage
kicks in. Insurance plans also typically limit the amount a person must pay with their own money − known as the out-of-pocket limit in health insurance lingo.
Still, LendingTree officials said the purpose of the report is to remind consumers how expensive health care can be, and that there's no more expensive place for health care than U.S. hospitals.
"We know health insurance costs and health care costs have been rising," said Cate Deventer, a LendingTree health insurance expert. The company's study "sort of slaps you in the face that it could take you one-fifth of a year to work off the average hospital expense. It's concerning. That's a big chunk of time and a big investment for most people."
Idaho residents need to work longest to pay hospitals
The report said California had the highest-cost hospitals, with an average stay reaching $23,530, followed by District of Columbia hospitals at $23,153 and Idaho hospitals at $22,236. Mississippi had the least expensive hospitals at $6,949 per stay.
The report said Idaho residents would need to work the longest hours to pay for the average hospital stay. An Idaho resident earning the state's average hourly wage of $34.32 would need to clock in for 648 hours, or about four months, and use those full paychecks to cover the hospital expenses.
The report suggests hospital affordability is worsening for Americans. Hospital expenses rose 26.1% since an earlier LendingTree report based on 2021 data. The hospital costs rose more than twice as fast as Americans' average hourly wage growth of 11.2% over the same period.
The vast majority of U.S. hospitals have emergency departments and must cover expenses such as round-the-clock staffing. Under federal law, hospitals with emergency departments also must assess and stabilize any patient who seeks care, even if they are uninsured or don't have the financial resources to pay the bill.
The LendingTree report cited average hospital expense data from the health policy nonprofit KFF and the American Hospital Association. The data estimated hospital expenses and don't necessarily reflect what a patient would be billed or what an insurance company would pay, according to KFF.
While patients with health insurance typically pay the amount required by their health plan, Deventer said the hospital bills can be a big expense for people without health insurance. As of 2024, about 1 in 10 U.S. residents under 65 did not have health insurance. Patients might qualify for financial assistance or work out a payment plan, Deventer said.
Nearly 6 in 10 U.S. hospitals are nonprofits that get a tax break but also must meet community benefit standards in exchange for this favorable tax status. These nonprofits typically offer patient assistance, discounts or charity care that can reduce or eliminate balances.
But some hospitals also seek to collect unpaid balances through collection agencies or even lawsuits. One study found Virginia hospitals, doctors and medical providers initiated more than 1.1 million lawsuits to collect $1.4 billion in medical debt from consumers over a 15-year period.
About one in four U.S. adults said they or a family member had medical debt as of December 2025, according to a recent Urban Institute survey. The share of uninsured adults with medical debt was even higher; one in three adults without health insurance had medical debt, the survey said.
Michael Karpman, a principal research associate at the Urban Institute, said the survey was conducted in December 2025. That was before the Affordable Care Act's enhanced subsidies expired in January 2026, inflating costs for millions of ACA customers.
Karpman also warned that more low-income families could lose Medicaid coverage under forthcoming changes from congressional Republicans' 2025 budget bill signed by President Donald Trump. Medicaid enrollees will have to work at least 80 hours a month, go to school, complete job training or volunteer to maintain their government-funded health coverage.
"There's a serious concern that (medical debt) could get worse over time as health care costs continue rising and these federal cuts to Medicaid and (ACA) marketplace coverage begin to take effect over the next several years," Karpman said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: This is how long Americans must work to pay growing hospital tabs
