A countrywide study released by the American Journal of Medicine has revealed that almost sixty-two percent of all the 2,314 bankruptcies filed in the US in 2007 were linked to medical expenses - the figures marking a 50 percent rise from the 2001 data.

Of the middle-class people who filed bankruptcies in 2007, nearly 80 percent were covered under health insurance, and mentioned average medical expenses of a little below $18,000. The remaining 20 percent who did not have insurance, but filed bankruptcies, had average medical bills of almost $27,000.

Commenting on the figures, the researchers at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University noted that the incidence of bankruptcies driven by medical expenses could probably be even higher than the revealed figures, since the data collected pertained to the pre economic downturn period.

The study showed that hospital bills comprised the largest single expense for nearly 50 percent of the medically-bankrupt families; with prescription drugs comprising the largest expense for 18.6 percent families.

Reiterating the need for rethinking health reform, lead author Dr. David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, saying that the findings are "frightening," added: "For middle-class Americans, health insurance offers little protection. Most of us have policies with so many loopholes, co-payments and deductibles that illness can put you in the poorhouse."