However, statistics can be misleading if not filtered.

I am proud to say, I am part of this 35%. I have owed $15 to a hospital for a long time. I also owed a bigger bill for a long time. Despite having the money. We moved, lost track of correspondence, had life happen to us etc.

I'm not sure, however, which employers reject you on such bases. When I worked at a hospital, we had background checks. At my present job, no such thing.