If this doesn’t scare you into saving more money, nothing will.

An emergency medical or dental bill is something that everyone fears, but no one is paying attention to. Seeing as 40% of Americans cannot afford a $400 emergency expense, the following will be quite intimidating.

The average cost for emergency medical treatment in the US is $12,126.22 before any deductions or help from an insurance provider. With a situation this dire, a poll conducted by dentalplans.com revealed that a great many people do know what it feels like to be charged far more than you can afford for medical care. In fact, one out of every two respondents reported delaying a procedure because they knew how expensive it would be.

If you feel safe because you are insured, think again. Think back to that $12,126.22, and then consider that the average person needs to pay 49% of the emergency medical costs out of pocket. It also takes the average person 2.4 years to pay off an emergency medical bill, and 25% of people who have gone through this have tried crowdfunding or fundraising to raise the money they needed. Two in five respondents didn’t have any money set aside to deal with this, which lines up perfectly with the $400 emergency medical expense study conducted by the Federal Reserve Board. It might be a good idea to start setting more money aside…